Volunteers drilling hundreds of community wells.
A man from Lorette is currently in Africa where he’s working alongside other volunteers drilling hundreds of community wells and building dozens of school washrooms. He also used his skills to create needed items and teach his trade to Liberian residents.
John Kuban has been a welding instructor at Murdoch McKay Collegiate for several years. As a volunteer with Lifewater Canada, his talents as a welder were immediately in demand.
Kuban’s adventure began Halloween morning when he left Canada packed 123 lbs of tools, hardware, the entire contents of the medicine cabinet, food, six weeks worth of bubble packed meds which took up a lot of space, and very little clothing other than work apparel. After meeting the team in Brussels, the group left the next day to arrive at Monrovia later in the evening.
“John’s first job was to take apart two motorcycles that were returned from the Yamaha dealer as ‘basket cases’,” explained his wife Charlotte. “He was labelled a wonder – in one day he had them apart and had rebuilt one. This is the type of work he enjoys and he was thrilled to be making a difference in such a short time.”
Working beside other volunteers, he helped build a 2,400 square foot multipurpose building, a generator house, and a secure equipment storage area as part of a five-year plan that is expecting to see the region become independent from foreign aid sources.
However, there were a few setbacks and disappointments along the way. The factory employee who was given a deposit for windows ordered for the storage/office building absconded with the money and left the country. In another twist of fate, the land officially purchased from the present owner under the guidance of a lawyer and Government Land Titles, is being reclaimed by the rightful owners who possessed the land prior to the war.
Despite these issues, including almost getting crushed by a tipped over truck, the group has remained undaunted by the task ahead of them.
“John is now a happy man, he can finally get down to the business of welding and teaching the skills to a Liberian, basically repairing wheelbarrows and all kinds of tools and gardening implements,” added Charlotte. “He’s made the security bars for the 17 windows and is itching to fabricate the roof racks he’s designed for the three trucks.”
He is expected to return to his Lorette home in early December.
Lifewater Canada is a volunteer-driven non-profit group that trains and equips African workers to drill wells and build washrooms. They then match donors in developed countries with poor African villages that cannot afford to cover the entire cost of even the most basic water and sanitation services.
Thanks to donations and tireless volunteers, Lifewater Canada recently celebrated drilling their three hundredth well.
