Operation Restoration

This is one of the 31 contaminated wells that has been documented and mapped in the Lethem area alone by community volunteers working with RAM.  Visible at the top of the picture is one of 42 mapped latrines also located in the flood affected areas.  The wells are hand dug and typically between 15 and 40 feet in depth.

The plan is to set up teams, and train community members to restore these wells as a critical health and sanitation effort.  A Georgetown volunteer attached to Guyana Water Inc. is preparing a standard protocol for both concrete-lined and unlined wells.  Two pumps with associated hosing have already been donated for this purpose.  Thanks to Capt. Gerry Gonsalves of Trans Guyana Airways, these are already on the ground in Lethem.

In many outlying villages that experienced flooding this season, the well situation is even more difficult given the lack of options and access to bottled water.  Most residences in the remote villages of the Rupununi are thatched and therefore do not support the collection of rain water.

RAM Guyana is expecting over $1000 lb of urgent relief supplies, collected by supporters in Georgetown, to arrive on a flight tomorrow with the Civil Defence Commission (CDC).