>>> Oct 2009

Borrow Some Seeds
Ever needed a few seeds? The Berberati Ag center just put a new roof on a couple of containers that will now serve as ICDI's seed bank. This will allow local villagers to borrow seeds for nutritious food crops that they don't have access to. How does it work?

Here's an example - a farmer from a small village outside of Berberati hears about ICDI's ag center, and comes in for a visit. Tokondo, ICDI's Ag program manager, shows him around, and invites him to attend a demonstration of planting techniques in the demonstration garden. Naturally, the farmer would like to try some of these new plants and techniques back at his village, so a training time is organized to be held in the farmer's village. After the people from the village have gone through the training and cleared a plot of ground, they need seeds, which is where the seed bank comes in. Without paying out any cash, the village receives a sack of seeds, plants them, and pays back the seed bank at the end of the season with seeds that they harvest from the plants they grew. Of course, as with any loan, there is also some interest to pay, and the farmers will be required to pay back fifty percent more seeds than they borrowed - and so the ICDI seed bank grows, allowing it to serve even more farmers the next season!

2010 Well Drilling Season

A lot of work goes into the well drilling program, before the drilling season even starts. Finding donors to finance the wells, determining which villages to drill them in, and the huge task of prepping all the equipment. Doug Murtoff is in Berberati, lending a professional hand to garage workers in Berberati, as they repair, clean, and rebuild the well drilling equipment and vehicles to prepare for another year of drilling.

2010 is shaping up to be another great year, with opportunities for wells to be drilled in the Birao area, in the far north-east part of CAR, near the Sudan Darfur and Chad borders. The military conflicts in these neighboring countries has spilled over into CAR, with the result being that many refugees are now living in this area, and lack of clean water is a serious problem. Travel to this area is extremely difficult, much more so than western CAR. This means it is even more expensive to drill here - $22,000 USD per well. ICDI is in contact with a European foundation, willing to provide finances to match up to 15 wells specifically in this region. Please contact Ted Rondeau if you are interested in giving a donation towards a well in this region - or even giving a donation towards part of a well - every well we get sponsored will be matched by another well!

Meet the Staff! We've got a few new faces for you - Francis Mabenn, the Berberati Garage Inventory/Parts Manager, and Jon Allen (pictured to the left) - who will be ICDI's USA based Supply and Logistics Coordinator. They'll be working closely together, to help streamline purchases, shipping, and distribution of the items necessary to keep ICDI running.

Left: Francis, in one of the supply containers in the Berberati Garage
Right: Job, welding together new shelves to help keep things organized

Faithful and True Drill Rig Prepared To Be Shipped To CAR
The new drill rig just drilled its first test well in Pennsylvania, and is almost ready to be shipped to CAR. Marcellin Namsene, ICDI's CAR Well Program Manager, was thrilled to participate in the test drilling, and is excited to get the rig back home where it can be put to work. The rig is scheduled to be shipped at the end of this month, and we're still looking for some assistance for funding the shippment. One ICDI supporter has pledged up to $25,000USD in matching funds to get the rig into action - contact Ted Rondeau for more details.

You can check out more pictures of the test well on our facebook page - www.facebook.com/icdinternational

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