The Farm, Morocco. Water Pump Appeal?

[overlander]

I'm glad to see this plan has not stalled, Mick has the necessary technical know-how. I hope to go back to the farm sometime this year, possibly in September but getting a pass from SWAMBO is proving tricky. Thanks for your involvement in this project Tony, my Moroccan brothers deserve a break..

cheers

John H

[flyingant]

Hi Mick & John,

Mick - thanks for info. What do you think of the offer on Papa Pumps website to do a virtual survey for 50 GBP refundable against an eventual purchase of pumps? Seems interesting - if someone can suppply GPS co-ordinates, I should be prepared to subsidise this. I have a meeting with the Charity coming up soon, and will try to obtain a commitment for finance. Will keep you posted.

John, will supply adorable Burmese kittens, guaranteed to charm SWMABO into submission, as necessary!

Inshallah,
Tony

[overlander]

Tony: these are the approximate co-ordinates of the farm house taken from Google Earth: 32 deg 19' 47.72"N, 4 deg 32' 80.46"W., altitude around 1400m. You can see the river to the south running approx from the northwest to the east before it turns south and heads down the valley of the Ziz and also the cultivated land between it and the farm buildings. I can't get good definition much below 2.5kms but it appears that the images were taken in 2011 and the orchards seem to be there. When we visited in May 2011 they had virtually disappeared. To the east of the buildings is an elevated patch of land which would probably benefit from irrigation. The altitude means that in winter it is very cold and I have experienced a severe frost whilst camped there several times. Your offer of involvement is much appreciated, let's keep the momentum going...

cheers

John H

[flyingant]

John,

I think the first priority should be to get you and Mick out there to talk things over with the brothers, and do a survey. I'll do all I can to help with this,

All the best
Tony

[overlander]

Thanks Tony, yes I will get in touch with Mick and we can take it from there. I certainly have the time these days.

cheers

John H

[RMS]

If you need any support with this, I'm happy to help

We were only there for a couple of days with John, but were made to feel very welcome - almost a part of the family if that's possible with such different cultures

Cheers,
Robin.

[overlander]

We need active fund-raising Robin. I'm happy to mock up a Water Pump Appeal placard and supply a bucket for cash if you would stick them somewhere prominent on the LRCC Stand at the upcoming shows.

cheers

John H

[RMS]

No problem John, but I think there needs to be a proper 'business' plan in place before we start asking the public for cash.

If it all falls through for any reason, what happens then to any cash collected?

Perhaps Tony might have some advice on how to make it official, or if Aide-en-Raide do look on this project favourably, do we just link fundraising in to them?

Just something to think about before the show season starts

Cheers,
Robin.

[RobW]

There are also a couple of engineering charities that use locally sourced technology to do some of this sort of stuff. Rather than shipping in equipment it might be possible to acquire a lower tech solution which can be more easily maintained. Just a thought.

[RMS]

Hi Rob,

The original Morocco 2011 gang went through this a year ago (or more!) when we were first considering it - the PAPA pumps are really the most simple of all pumps - check out THIS SITE.
Only two moving parts, 24 hour, 365 day operation and no running costs

Another advantage is that they are made from plastics, so not likely to be thieved for scrap metal and cheap to ship.

It's good to see the plan being resurrected, and hopefully we can carry it through.

Cheers,
Robin.