Good Samaritan puts a watery smile to camps

By Jackie Nalubwama

James Wilde was on a heights adventure in the Himalayas in Nepal. He climbed the mountains on the Nepalese side and came down the Chinese side in Choyu, but with dysentery.

“I got dysentery, a water-borne disease because of unclean water,” said Wilde.

Wilde said having suffered dysentery, his eyes were opened to the need for clean water among the less fortunate. “So I came up with Global H2O. I wanted to do boreholes in Mt. Kilimanjaro [area] but the people were not cooperative,” he said.

A friend, Ben Vietniecks, interested Wilde in Uganda’s “north crisis” and he then decided to help the people that suffered the Lord’s Resistance Army conflict with boreholes.

“He helped me get a better understanding of the need for water in 2010,” said Wilde.

Wilde, founder and president of Global H2O, then embarked on building the first borehole in Dibolyec, Padibe sub-county, near Kitgum.

“Since 2010, we have done 34 boreholes of which some are in Kiryandongo and Kamwenge [refugee] camps,” said Wilde.

Describing Global H20 as non-political, non-religious oriented, and with at least 95% of the funds collected going into projects, Wilde said the organization is also voluntary.

“I do not get a salary,” he said.

Instead, funds are collected from sponsors for projects and some of the main funders are: Germany’s Knorr-Bremse Global Care, UK’s Royal Order of St. Lazarus and US’ Stop Hunger Now.

Beneficiaries
Wilde reckons that Global H20 has 85, 000 beneficiaries today because he says the boreholes are supposed to provide drinking water.

“We use the five-litre per day [average] for drinking water but UN uses 50-litres per day because it includes washing, bathing and cooking,” he said.

Wilde says, in addition, “Knorr-Bremse Global Care is to build 10 boreholes in either Adjumani or Lamwo.”

However, he said the plan is to create Global H2O- Uganda Chapter so that Ugandans donate to Ugandans.

“We have done that in Angola but we are in the registering process,” he said.

As a result, Wilde has trained the beneficiaries on borehole maintenance and hygiene.

“We train the people on clean water and hygiene, cleaning boreholes and repairs,” he said.

Together with boreholes, Global H2O has embarked on building latrines as water and sanitation go hand in hand.

“The first five years of Global H2O was about water because one in seven does not have access to clean water. Yet one in three does not have access to a toilet,” said Wilde.

“We built our first latrines in 2014 with four latrines that have two stances in Palabek, Lamwo,” said Wilde, who said 10 more will be built in Lamwo.

“I actually submitted a proposal to Coca Cola Africa to sponsor all latrines (469 stances) and 27 boreholes to help with the refugee camp needs,” said Wilde.

According to him, about 60 to 80 people register at the camp in Kiryandongo, which he said makes the need for water and sanitation all the more dire.

Government involvement
Although Global H2O has not partnered with the government, Wilde explained that the government pays Sub-Saharan Drilling, the company contracted to construct the boreholes.

“Global H2O is not partnering with government but we work with district water officers, who report to chief administrative officers,” said Wilde.

Accountability
Since donors are ever more cautious about giving aid, Wilde said every borehole has GPS [global positioning satellite] coordinates to enable sponsors track them.

“I have GPS coordinates of the boreholes because I wanted proof of every dollar that we get,” explained Wilde.