This year, we experienced an unexpected crisis. GRACE is in a remote, mountainous region, and we receive our wvisibility, medium visibility, largelocated 5 km above the sanctuary. The village of Katoyo, where most of our team lives, receives its water from the same source. However, infrastructure built over a decade ago suddenly failed in March 2018, leaving only a trickle of water at the access tap. Collecting water was a chore that used to take minutes, but after the system collapsed, people were queuing for up to 8 hours in order to get the water they needed for drinking, bathing, cooking, and other basic needs.
See people queuing for water in the community:
At GRACE we have bacvisibility, medium visibility, large but for people in the village, there was not an easy solution. Very quickly the lack of water reached a crisis level, and people’s lives were negatively impacted. People were not able to practice good hygiene or cook regular meals for their families. The time spent standing in line also took away from more productive activities such as studying or working on farms.
Katoyo resident Judithe tells how the lack of water access has impacted her life:
Katoyo resident Rosalie said, “I can’t wash my clothes anymore, and I can no longer cook food for my children before they leave for school because we have no water.” Bienvenu Silulegha, a student at Muyisa Secondary School, said that the water crisis impacted his ability to go to school. “In former times, I could get to school on time,” he said. “But now it’s the contrary because I have difficulty finding water.”
For Earth Month, we launched an online fundraiser to help with this community crisis. Thanks to the generosity of many people who donated, we raised over $7,200, which was matched by our partner Nashville Zoo. This allowed GRACE to purchase the materials needed to rebuild the water infrastructure, which benefitted the sanctuary as well as Katoyo.
View photos of the water restoration project:
The community did all the hard work for installation. Working with an engineer, they dug over 3 km of trenches for the new piping. Much of this work was higher up on the mountain, which meant hard work like cutting through rock. The process was slow and the work was delayed by weather as well as bouts of insecurity in the region. But after nearly 6 months, the project was completed and water access was restored. More than 500 people worked on this project, so it was truly a community effort!
Gorilla Lulingu enjoys the first drink of water at the new waterer installed in the forest.
When the water returned, people were jubilant! GRACE DRC Director and Katoyo resident Jackson Kabuyaya Mbeke put it this way, “You know, water is life. For our community, the project has meant everything. People are returning to their normal lives now without having to worry each day about where they will get water.”
GRACE is now working with the community to set up a plan so the water system is properly maintained to ensure sustainability and avoid future crises. The restored water access also allowed us to install a new watering system in our gorilla forest enclosure. Thanks to everyone who contributed to this effort to bring water to people and gorillas!
About GRACE: Gorilla Rehabilitation and Conservation Education (GRACE) Center is the world’s only sanctuary for Grauer’s gorillas. The largest primate in the world, Grauer’s gorillas only live in war-torn eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Their numbers have dropped by nearly 80% in the past 20 years due to heavy poaching. They are considered one of the 25 most endangered primates in the world with only 3,800 remaining. GRACE cares for 14 orphaned gorillas rescued from poachers and works to rehabilitate them so they can return to the wild. At GRACE the gorillas live in a single gorilla group that functions as a surrogate family and spend their days in 39 acres of forest. GRACE also partners with local communities on education and conservation initiatives to protect a critical population of wild gorillas living in Tayna Nature Reserve. For more about GRACE, visit: www.gracegorillas.org.