Project Summary

As with many countries around the world, Zimbabwe is feeling the effects of climate change. With this project Soft Foot Alliance is helping to create better access to precious water for communities in a regenerative way.

Soft Foot Alliance has introduced the rainwater Jar to our community as part of the evolution of our permculture strategy. ‘Catch and store energy’ is one of the permaculture principles that we use to design our work towards building a landscape of regeneration.

Local builders have been trained on how to build simple rainwater jars that collect 3000 litres of water from the roof of a small house. We can honestly say that the community is so excited about this and we can’t keep up with the demand!

As a special thanks to the homesteads and families in the community who have been that early adopters of our permaculture and regenerative techniques, which are making such a difference to the resilience of the community, we would like these villagers to receive a rainwater jar as a gift to recognize their hard work and to help to continue improving their lives, crops and the landscape.

Donations to support this important project would be very welcome. Help us support communities by donating to our simple, pragmatic rainwater capture and storage project.
The cost of all materials for the jar and the guttering, together with all the labour costs comes to: US$350 per property.

THE FULL STORY

Rainwater Jar- catch and store energy. Rainwater harvesting is a way of meeting people’s needs and improving the environment.

Hwange national park and the surrounding villages receives an average of 600mms of rain per year. This rain falls during the short rainy season between November and April. Traditionally crops are grown in fields during the rainy season, each year there are more erratic rains with heavy storms and then long dry spells meaning crops often fail.

Access to water for a homestead is very limited, women walk with 20 litre bucket to collect water from village boreholes. In some villages this can mean waking several kilometers to collect water.

Local builders have been trained on how to build simple rainwater Jars that collect 3000 liters of water from the roof of a small house. During a storm precious water rushes off of roofs and causes erosion. Using gutters to catch every drop of this into a rainwater jar improves a families access to water both for household use and to help with growing food in a small area.

Homesteads and families that have been learning about permaculture and applying regenerative techniques in their homes and villages receive a rainwater jar as a gift to recognize their hard work and to help to continue improving their lives and landscapes.

The jar is built by filling a form made of canvas with sand

Project Design

The jar is built by filling a form made of canvas with sand then chicken-wire is wrapped around it to make the shape of the jar. A thin cement plaster is then applied to the outside and after a few days the sand and form are taken out and the inside is plastered. This uses very little materials and is easy to build and maintain.

As with all our projects, we support local skills development and capacity building, ensuring income generation for the communities that live with wildlife. The first builders were trained by a water harvesting expert. The gutters are made either by local tin Smith’s with sheet metal or by the builders also using chicken wire and plaster.

Local builders have been trained

Chicken-wire is wrapped around it to make the shape of the jar

The jars that collect 3000 litres of water

Our community is loving this project, which is wonderful

Can you support the rainwater jar and harvesting project?
Water is critical and as such this project is vitally important to our overall work.

The cost of all materials for the jar and the guttering, together with all the labour costs comes to: US$350 per property

Donations to support this important project would be very welcome.