A school in Madagascar gets a new water tank

A rural school lacks access to clean water

What would school be without water fountains? Some people might not notice them but I always loved taking a break from class to drink some cold running water. During middle school I could tell you the water pressure of every fountain in the school, from the ones that burbled up lazily to the fire hoses that practically shot the water down your throat.

Here in Madagascar, students don’t have the same luxury. In fact, at rural schools like the one where I teach in the central part of the country, clean water is rarely available at all. Many students walk an hour or more to school every day, then work the whole day under hot metal roofs, all without drinking anything.

Students never complained, so I didn’t fully recognize the problem until one afternoon when I saw a bunch of students standing by the local pump, taking turns drinking from the brown, sludgy water.

“You shouldn’t drink that,” I told them. “Come over here, I’ll get you some safe water.”

We went to my house where they were able to drink clean water from my Peace Corps water filter. Before long, my porch was crowded with students and my little filter was completely empty. Clearly, I would never be able to fix the problem by myself. Once I noticed students drinking dirty water, I realized that it was a regular occurrence. My co-workers were also aware of the issue.

“Yes, it’s a problem,” the school principal told me. “Sometimes students have to leave class because of upset stomachs.”

Partnering to provide clean water for students

I began to cast around for a better solution. Fortunately, the Peace Corps network is a fantastic resource for community development. I found out about Zarasoa, an NGO founded by former Peace Corps Volunteers that facilitates and funds grassroots projects in Madagascar. Zarasoa (meaning "share well" in Malagasy) specializes in building rainwater tanks for rural towns. At my school’s urging, I reached out.

Zarasoa sent a representative, a part-time English teacher named Vonjy, to my town. What followed was a lively meeting between Vonjy, teachers, parents, and town leaders. Malagasy town meetings are crowded and sometimes contentious affairs, often lasting many hours.

Vonjy drew out the whole project budget on a chalkboard and asked how the nonprofit and community would divide the costs. Community members spent the next four hours hammering out the details.

I mostly stayed in the background during that meeting and the ones that followed. It wasn’t my place to set the school’s priorities. In any case, they didn’t need me. After hours of going back and forth, the NGO, school, and town came to an agreement to split the costs of the project.

Community members pitch in to build a new water tank

What followed was a bewildering blizzard of tasks. Everyone helped in some way. Each morning before class, parents dropped off bags of sand to help make cement. The project required some 15 cubic meters (30 tons) of the stuff, so the school’s sand mountain grew quickly. Lacking any official responsibilities, I joined the crew, lifting bags of sand and carrying them uphill to the school. My students laughed at me, but I figured it was good for project morale.

Other community members also contributed. The mayor provided a truckload of gravel from the local quarry. I persuaded a local wholesaler to offer the school a discount on cement and PVC piping, and a wealthy businessman living in Tana agreed to let the Zarasoa masons stay in his empty house. After I spent two years building relationships in the community, it felt so satisfying to direct all the goodwill I had earned towards a major project.

The masons were professionals, a team of men and women who had learned the water tank design from a British company in Fort Dauphin. They built a mold out of concrete blocks, coated it in mud, and spread the wet cement over the mud to create a beautiful, curved shape. Students crowded around to watch the building each day before school, while Vonjy explained the fine points of its construction.

A beautiful new water tank serves the school

After a month of construction, Zarasoa had finished a gorgeous 10,000-liter rainwater tank, connected to the roof and complete with filtration systems. After Vonjy trained the teachers in tank use and maintenance, we placed our handprints on the tank—the principal’s, the mayor’s, a student’s and mine.

As an Education Volunteer, I don’t know anything about water tanks. Thanks to the Peace Corps network and the generosity of my community, we were able to make a decades-long investment in the health of my school’s 360 students. Peace Corps is often less about doing everything yourself and more about quietly helping things along from the sidelines.