Ministerio Agua de Vida

Esaho and Beatrice Kipuke established and now run a training center for young women in the northern Togo city of Kara, in West Africa.  Most of the young women are from surrounding villages and have little or no prospect of improving their lives.  The Kipuke Training Center curriculum is a 4 year “Family Economics” program that is certified by the Togolese Government and includes courses in nutrition, hygiene, cooking, sewing, French literacy, religion and music.  The objective of the program is to establish a sense of self-worth and value for the young women so that they can be contributing members of society.  The program has a strong Christian base and is intertwined with Bible study and prayer.

The Kipuke Center covers 7 acres and includes several buildings, including bathrooms, kitchen, and a nursery.  There are about 40 young women who attend the school.  However, the only source of water is a hand pump in a drilled well.  All of the water used for the facility must be pumped and carried in buckets.  Although the bathrooms were built with modern plumbing facilities, there is yet no running water.  Running water will also allow irrigation, during the long dry season, of the food crops grown at the facility.

Pumping water from old hand pump

Students cooking lunch in outdoor kitchen

After visiting the Kipuke Training Center in 2011 and discussing their needs with Esaho and Beatrice, we decided to adopt the upgrade of their water system as a project for Agua de Vida Ministries.  The initial phases of the the project included the following:

• Installation of an electric submersible pump (after removal of the hand pump)

• Construction of a 30 foot tower and installation of a 1,000 gallon water tank

• Installation of about 500 feet of buried water pipes

We were able to raise the needed funds and in February of 2012 we flew into Lome, the capital of Togo.  While there we purchased most of the materials needed, including the electric pump, 1,300 gallon plastic water tank and galvanized drop pipe.  Amazingly enough we were able to get all of this, and several passengers, in (or ON) Esaho's van.  The trip up to Kara, in the north of Togo, is only about 250 miles, but due to the extremely poor road conditions it took about 7 hours.

Transporting construction materials from Lome to Kara

Getting water from temporary tank setup

Digging trenches and laying pipe

Water tower being mounted on the new steel tower

Esaho had contracted with the  construction engineer who had installed the hand pump originally, Mr. Ouro.  He proved to be a very resourceful, ingenious, and was able to handle the project quite well.  It was a change from our previous role as construction manager.  All went well and we heard from Esaho that the system is complete (at least to the intermediate stage) and is functioning well.

The next phases include extending the piping to some of the further buildings and installation of an irrigation system.  Doug Neel of the Agrimissions Group is going to the Center with a team from Trinity on the Hill and Sugar Hill Methodist Churches in October, and hopefully these last phases will soon be completed.

We would also like to install solar panels in the future to reduce electricity costs.

As we try to do on all of our projects, we were able to dedicate the new pump to the Lord.  We also had an extra treat on this project with Linda being asked to lead a Bible Study for a group of ladies from the village.  She presented in English, which Beatrice then translated to French, and one of the teachers then translated to Kabye, the native language of the villagers.

To God be the Glory - among ALL TRIBES AND TONGUES!!!

Technical Details

Project date: February 28 - March 14, 2012

Location:   Latitude -  N 09° 38’ 48.5”     Longitude - E  001° 07’ 53.2”

Elevation:     1,049 ft. above sea level

Project Cost:  $8,803  (Our portion only - other churches are continuing the work)

Type of project:  Upgrade existing well to electric pump and water tower

People served:  Over 50 students and faculty, plus 10 (more or less) surrounding families

Well depth: 103.5 ft.

Submersible pump: 1.5 Hp, 230 volts

Static water level: 26.0 ft. (at end of dry season)

Dynamic water level: 46.0 ft.

Flow rate:   15 gallons/minute

Water tank: 1,300 gallons, polyethylene, on 30 ft. steel tower