Dorothy's Wells Project Tanzania

Jim and a happy child!

Dorothy's Well Project is an Esh-based charity which raises money to drill wells in Tanzania, providing fresh drinking water to people of Africa who otherwise would have to walk for up to three hours a day to collect dirty water. Founded in 2009 by Esh resident Jim O'Connor in memory of his late wife Dorothy, the project aims to reduce the frightening statistic that every 20 seconds, a child in Africa dies of a water-related disease.

Since the sinking of the first well at Machame, north eastern Tanzania, and building of latrines at Nkoraya Primary School, a further six wells and twelve latrines have been installed in rural Tanzanian communities, all of whom were in desperate need of clean drinking water and sanitation facilities.

Each well costs around £20,000 to sink, money raised through local coffee mornings, raffles, tombolas, bring and buy sales, lunches, supermarket bag packing, and Ceilidhs, as well as sponsored events including the Coast to Coast walk and the Boxing Day North Sea Dip, and more recently, a climb of Mount Kilimanjaro which helped to kick-start the funding programme for 2013. 

To find out more about the project and how you can help, please visit their website, www.dorothyswell.org or see their Facebook page.