The Hippo Water Roller improves access to water and food security

Published on by in Technology

MaYalo Food Garden

The MaYalo homestead was the first beneficiary in January 2015 of the Hippo Water Roller crowdfunding campaign, MaYalo Food Security Project for women coops .

The MaYalo Project was started in rural Eastern Cape in a little village called Holy Cross 100km from Kokstad. The nearest stream is about 800m (1.5km return) from the MaYalo project and they struggle to get sufficient water for their crops.

Mrs. MaYalo mentioned with pride how her youngest son who is in grade 12 at the local high school is making good use of the Hippo Water Roller. The son is taking a huge load off his elderly father's shoulders who usually collects water late afternoon when it has cooled down, walking the 1.5km distance.

She says the son literally sings and jives along the stretch from the river to their home with the Hippo roller, so happy to collect water - a task that was not so trendy in the past.

Project leader, Khaya Mposula said in April that she is impressed with progress on the crop farming, thanks to the project's first water roller:

Khaya explains that they still struggle to collect enough water for the gardens. They recently had to collect water from the municipality taps which is about 15km from the project. They were desperate and had to hire a bakkie to make 3 trips. They managed to fill 2 x 200lt drums.

UPDATE: The MaYalo crowdfunding campaign has almost reached its target. Through the generous contributions of Hippo roller supporters the MaYalo Food Security Project for women coops will soon receive 3 more Hippo Water Rollers to assist them with their food gardens.

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