Has '1000 Wells for Darfur' Dried Up?

That's what reader Rod Downing wanted to know in a recent comment. I had been  thinking that same thought about a week ago. His comment spurred me to investigate.

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 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. The WWW 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 (info@1001wells.org) inquiring about the project's status.

From my admittedly brief search, it looks like nothing substantive has happened. If something were happening, you can bet it would be all over the place - would it ever!

That 1000 Wells for Darfur seems to have died is a real shame; the demise of the hope it engendered is even sadder.

Let's hope I'm wrong. If I'm right, can we get this going again?

"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

[Melinda Hudson]

I would like to announce that the 1001 Wells for Darfur Boston University Group has successfully raised 10,000 dollars to build the first well in Boston University's name. To learn more information about the group and its continuous efforts to raise money for a second well in Darfur please visit us at 1001wellsfordarfur.blogspot.com.

Please note, unfortunately the well will not begin construction immediately due to the escalated conflict in Darfur at this time. However now that the 10,000 dollars has been raised and the funds are accessible, Dr. El-Baz plans to begin construction once the situation is less tumultuous.

[Alain Gachet]

I feel sorry for Farouk El Baz project, as anticipated when I personnally opposed these 1001 wells for thechnical reasons, beside the fact that these wells located some 600 km for the Darfur refugee camps would never be able to alleviate the Darfur humanitarian crisis.
This humanitarian crisis shifted since 2011 to Smalia, destabilizing Ethiopia with 500 000 somalia refugees and Kenya with almost the same number of refugees;
We are now engaged with the same technology (WATEX)in another struggle to find more water for all these refugees and to help the generous countries supporting the imposed burden of these migrations,stabilise and securize these populations through new groundwater resources;
We are not going to drill prestigious and costy wells, through prestigious university programs, just a tough, modest and dangerous work in war zones to define new areas of hydrogeologic interest, drill hundreds of small wells for thousand persons, and step by step reconstruct implosed economies, protect the persons and cattle (it is the same on pastoral cultures) and with humility, retire without publicity;
This is the way of progress in a team work.

[Melinda Hudson]

My name is Melinda Hudson, I am an undergraduate student at Boston University, and will be the new president for 1001 Wells for Darfur at BU during this upcoming school year. I apologize for the confusion about our disorganized website. This summer we will be updating it. I appreciate you following up on our group. If you could, please update your blog to let readers know that our group is not dead. We are still very much active!

Also, we do have a new online donation webpage. It is http://www.active.com/donate/1001WellsBU

If you would like to find out more information about our group please visit us at http://www.bu.edu/remotesensing/research/dafur/

Thank you so much for showing such interest in our group. If you have any additional questions please don’t hesitate to e-mail me at hudsonm@bu.edu. 1,001 Wells for Darfur is currently being run by a small but dedicated group of undergraduate students with direct advisement from Dr. El-Baz. We are always looking for opportunities to inform others about our group.

[Michael Campana]

Hi, John.

Thanks for commenting.

You need to ask Karim these questions. I am not working on this project so I cannot answer your questions; I am just wondering what has happened after all the publicity given to it several years ago.

My sense is that this project is not going anywhere. Just look at the ’1001 Wells for Darfur’ site.

[John Gage]

Thank you, Michael and Karim, for the impetus to update information on the 1001 wells project.

After seeing the impressive mapping and well-digging successes in Darfur of Alain Gachet, I am interested to learn more about how his work might be related to the 1001 Wells initiative. Are you working together? Who else is involved?

Is there cooperation among the different mapping and geological analytic players? Who in the UN, specifically, is committed to aiding this initiative, and how? What financing is being sought?

This initiative has implications, of course, for the region. Any news of who is acting to do something, together with details of their plans, would be a great service.

[Michael]

Thanks, Karim.

You really need to update your WWW site to let people know what is happening. There is none of the information contained in your comment, the donation site doesn't accept money, and the blog (http://1001wells.org/blog) is full of weird posts (personals, job postings, mortgage lenders, etc.),except for the first few.

So, from looking at your site, most anyone would reach the same conclusion I did: that the project is dead.

[Karim Zahran]

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.