At the end of 2020 a group of students from the TU Delft contacted the WOT because of a project they were working on for their minor. They were to work out and implement a system to provide water for a company and a community in Sierra Leone. When researching they found out about the rope pump and decided they wanted to build one of these. The WOT has provided a course in the making of such a pump.
During the workshop parts of a rope pump were made. The students wanted to take these along to Sierra Leone. They would however, built more pumps with the local people. This is important to insure a greater degree of autonomy and sustainability.
The workshop
Because of the corona measures and limited capacity of our workshop only two members of the group could attend the course. Making a whole pump in one day was too ambitious and since the students had very limited welding skills, we decided to only create the parts that could be made without welding. Some welding was done by WOTters beforehand and in Sierra Leona as there also was a skilled welder available.
Metal forming as well as PVC forming were discussed. Also a part of the rope was made and the campus rope pump was removed and installed again.
The implementation
The students decided they wanted to go to Sierra Leone to install the pump. They did so successfully. Two more pumps were made over there, together with the locals, which will be installed soon.
2 more ropepumps 
Installation with the locals