In 1995 Mary and Alan Judd (from St. George’s Anglican Church, Crescentwood) returned from an extended visit to Ndoddo in Uganda. They were in the company of Bishop Lee and his wife Mary. Mary Judd in particular was concerned by the community’s need for a reliable, year round water supply.
We continue to Winnipeg, 2002. All Martyrs Church Ndoddo is our Ugandan Sister parish. A delegation visits us, and water for Ndoddo is discussed. Bishop Matovu’s ”Water is Life’ struck a chord, the wheels of progress slowly began to turn and St. George’s developed enthusiasm for providing a safe, potable and continuous water supply for Ndoddo parish.
After a slow start, the people of All Martyrs responded with a proposal to drill a well into a deep aquifer underlying Ndoddo. St. George’s raised $24,000 to undertake the work. The well was completed at a cost of $18,500. The well is capable of producing high quality potable water at a rate to supply a population of 10,000 people. Ndoddo has a population of approximately 5000 and the village of Kiddimulli four kilometres to the north east provides another 5000 users. A water delivery system of buried pipes was installed to serve both communities through a total of 43 service taps. System pressure is controlled by two elevated balancing tanks, one in Ndoddo village and the other near All Martyrs church. Electricity was delivered to the villages for the first time because of the need to pump water. The water supply system continues to function well with the exception of a failure when electricity supply failed and once when the well-head pump had to be replaced.
The entire system was constructed by local labour at a cost of $91,600 Canadian provided by St. George’s. It includes a well and pump, a delivery system of some 20 km. of delivery mains, two balancing tanks and approximately 42 public service outlets where residents can fill their water containers for a small fee. The accumulated fee covers cost of operation and maintenance of the water system.
In Uganda Mary’s Well has become ‘Mpigi District St George Crescentwood Water Project’.
Now, nine years later, we are extremely happy to find this project still operating and providing clean potable water. Stephen Judd, son of Mary and Alan Judd, was able to visit Ndoddo in January 2015.
