Earth to '1000 Wells for Darfur': SOS?

You can take 'SOS' to mean any one of a few meanings. I know which one I meant. And it's not the universal call for help.

Last 21 February I posted, Has '1000 Wells for Darfur' Dried Up? , in which I wondered what had happened to the project to help the oppressed people of Darfur gain access to clean water.

Here's what I wrote back then:

Remember all the fuss several years ago about an 'ancient mega-lake' discovered beneath the desert of north Darfur, and how its entrapped groundwater might alleviate the suffering of the Darfur people?

Yes, from that discovery, which garnered a lot of publicity for discoverer Dr. Farouk El-Baz and his group at Boston University's Center for Remote Sensing,arose a project to drill 1000 wells for Darfur. El-Baz met with Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir (the two are shown here) and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. it looked like something positive was going to happen.

I last posted about this on 24 January 2008; in this post you will find links to my previous five posts, one of which expressed skepticism about the as-yet undiscovered groundwater (but the potential was there).

So what is the project's status?

There is a item about the BU students' well on the Center's WWW site and access to a slew of news items, most of which are several years old.

The GSA Foundation announced the launching of the '1000 Wells for Darfur' initiative on its WWW site. The following was included in the announcement:

“Access to fresh water is essential for refugee survival, will help the peace process, and provides the necessary resources for the much needed economic development in Darfur,” said El-Baz.

“Any person, organization or county can contribute to this humanitarian effort. Those who provide $10 million or drill 10 wells will have their names on the wells forever,” El-Baz added. “New water resources will provide hope to the people of northwestern Sudan and will also allow for the migration of the labor force closer to the wells, where economic development is suitable and environmentally sustainable.”

It does appear that 1000 Wells for Darfur has now become 1001 Wells for Darfur - one for good luck, perhaps. Or maybe that is the BU students' well. TheWWW site doesn't look like much is happening, and the blog contains personals and job postings. There is no way to make a donation even though it says you can. In short, it looks like someone set up this site a few years ago and then promptly forgot about it. I just sent them an email ([email protected]) inquiring about the project's status.

Two things to remember:

1) The existence of a large groundwater body in the area has not been proven. The remote sensing data suggest that one may exist (see yesterday's post  about ground truthing). To my knowledge, no test well has been drilled. So it is premature to say that you are going to drill 100o wells, or even 100. The drilling of a test well (s) should be done ASAP.

2) It would be insufficient merely to drill wells for the locals. They must also be trained to maintain the wells and pumps so that they can control their own water future, insofar as that is possible.

 Now for the response to my email last February. Someone named Karim Zahran replied to my inquiry with this:

Mr. Campana...Thank you for getting in touch with us in regards to our Darfur water project. The 1001 Wells project is not fully blown out and running as planned because of the political events and situation in Sudan. As you know, we are planning to go to Darfur under the UN Umbrella, and the UN has significantly reduced its presence in Sudan in the past couple of years. However, different university groups are continuing with their efforts to raise awareness and money on the university level until we resume with our initiative.

I just checked out the WWW site and it looks a little cleaner, although no new information has been posted. There is nothing about which university groups are 'continuing with their efforts to raise awareness and money' as Zahran stated in his reply. I would think that these groups would be listed on the site to let people know that something is happening. Is there some kind of coordinated effort? I suspect not.

The blog still has a bunch of unrelated personal comments; Dr. Farouk El-Baz's blog has not been updated. There is no mechanism by which you can donate money, which is probably good because no one is doing anything.

I also must call out the GSA Foundation ,which launched the '1000 Wells for Darfur' initiative on its WWW site. I have been a member of the parent  Geological Society of America for 35+ years and consider it a fine organization. But the GSAF has dropped the ball, too.

I understand that Sudan is not an easy place in which to work. But I think the promoters of this initiative realized this at the time. And since South Sudan (not where Darfur is, by the way) has separated from the north, one might think it's as good a time as any to get this thing going. 

The only things that have been generated by this project are a lame WWW site and huge amounts of favorable publicity for the GSA Foundation, Boston University, Farouk El-Baz, the UN and Ban Ki-moon, and of course, that criminal Omar al-Bashir. 

The people of Darfur? Who? [Photo from here, courtesy of the AP.]

Maybe someone sent them some bottled water (perhaps not a bad idea, given what hasn't happened).

Way to go, guys. 

 "The Darfur initiative will bring hope to the people of northwestern Sudan; it will allow the migration of the labour force to locations where economic development is suitable and environmentally sustainable. This initiative can be a starting point for ameliorating the human suffering in the region and raising the quality of life and capacity of its people." -- Dr. Farouk El-Baz, 25 June 2007

Comments

[Michael Campana]

Dear Mohammad,

Thank you for commenting.

I suggest you contact Dr. Farouk El-Baz (Email: [email protected]), the person who suggested and promoted this project but has not followed through, at least from what I have been able to discern.

[Mohammad Al Kholi]

What a shame, this truly was an opportunity to develop an essential need for the people of this conflict and poverty stricken part of the world. Mr. Campana, I would like to get in touch with you directly to help.