Sometimes the basic necessities that we take for granted in the west are not so granted in developing countries.
No siree.
Not by a long short.
Case in point is the recent (well maybe 3 years now) cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe.
Actually while you are here I can point out the really recent cholera outbreak in Haiti that's got the world gasping at the horrible spectacle.
Let me tell you it is not pleasant at all.
So, back to the Zimbabwean situation, it got to a point where even the Major city of Harare was affected and this is a city that is world class in my opinion and to fall to this? Really? Even family members were not to be trusted as you just could not tell who was affected or who could put you at risk anymore.
The utility companies could not be asked or trusted to deal with the usually simple task of providing clean sanitary water to the masses.
Hence the advent of the borehole and well.
Just like strong well-liked world leaders, well strong companies and businesses are bourne out of crises as well.
A few online companies have sprung up all over the place.
Their business model is simple; to aggregate and put together a platform or online market place where top notch (or blue chip) Zimbabwean businesses can showcase their wares and services to other Zimbabweans abroad so they can hopefully use their western spending power to buy much needed and sometimes desperately needed, services like boreholes and wells.
In a nutshell funds are paid abroad and services provided in Zimbabwe.
All thanks to the internet and other online technologies.
So when the water crisis was at its height boreholes and wells were "easy" to buy because family members abroad could easily buy such services for their relatives back in Zimbabwe hence the quick popularity for boreholes and wells in Zimbabwe as citizens ran to try and take control of their own water needs in their backyards as it were.