“What’s going on with the water project I funded in Sierra Leone?”

It’s been a number of months since your donation was made.  And at that time, we let you know a project was soon to be getting underway in Sierra Leone.  As you may have noticed, some of those project’s “completion dates” have come and gone.

Frankly, we expected to be quite a bit farther along than we are on these water projects.  We’re disappointed that there have been delays and we want to share with you the reasons behind them.

At The Water Project, we work hard to be transparent – open – about everything we do.  We’re glad our partners are too.  Our friends on the ground in Sierra Leone have been incredibly helpful in sharing all the facts with us.  This past week they gave us a very detailed update about our shared work.

Because of everyone’s commitment to “get it right”, even with the delays, we’re more confident than ever that these will prove to be excellent water projects.  Each will benefit a great number of people – for a very long time.

Let’s catch up…and see where we’re headed.

Here a crew is working on the latrine pits and foundation at the Foo Foo Water Project

Things are happening.  Currently, TWP and our partner are working on 11 Full WaSH projects at schools (well rehabs and new sanitation facilities) and 15 well-only rehabilitations.  Work is underway simultaneously at various sites and there’s a lot of action on the ground.  We’ve just updated a number of project reports to reflect those efforts.

We’ve asked our partner to provide this type of information “as it happens” and they are working to improve on that communication.  Some of the “delay” has been slow communication.

To see if updates have been posted to your project, search using your email address here >>.

But what’s the real hold up?

Usually, a well rehabilitation goes quickly. If fact, we had originally figured that all 26 projects would have at least the water portion of the project flowing by about June of this year.  This was based on our past experience in the area.  Until recently, a “rehab” generally meant some new hardware, like pumps and seals, was all the work needed.

Then… the drought came.

…and the wells dried up.  It is now apparent that much more than new hardware will be needed.

Here’s what our partner wrote to us…

” Sierra Leone has experienced an exceptional drought season; in good conscience we cannot leave [a] community a [rehabilitated] well that we believe will go dry during the dry season.  Instead, we work with the community to dig these wells deeper.”

Digging by hand is hard and dangerous work.

The problem is… digging these wells deeper is incredibly difficult and dangerous.  These are hand dug wells.  No machine, no big rig.  It’s shovels and bare hands.  It’s tough.  Our partner continues…

“A note from our team on digging wells deeper: ‘Going down into a hand dug well to dig it deeper is not easy and is not something that just anyone can do.  It takes a skilled person to do this kind of work or there will be people dying.  Recently, several people [not part of our projects] died while digging a well.  One person was in the hole and passed out; another went in to save him, lost their breath, also passed out. Another person went down to try to bring them out and also passed out. A fourth person went down to try to save them and began to get fuzzy and was able to get out before passing out.  The three in the hole died.  Since the beginning of this year, eight people have died while digging hand dug wells [in the area].  We do not want this kind of a situation on our hands.  We are doing the well rehabs to the best of our ability.’

We haven’t experienced this issue with wells [in Sierra Leone] in the past.  Of course, when we rehab a borehole, we normally don’t see this type of issue.  However, most of the rehabs we are currently working on are hand-dug wells – and are presenting some new challenges.”

So, we’re simply not going to be fixing as many wells as we thought this year.  But that’s ok.

The most important measure of our work is not how many wells we can dig or fix – or how fast we can do it.  What matters most, is that these communities gain access to clean water for the long-term.  To get it right, we need to take our time.

It would be easier, and it would look great on our website to ignore the drying wells and simply say “We fixed 26 wells in a month!”.  It would make a great headline.  But if and when those wells would have run dry, what would have been solved?  We believe that you chose to join us in this work because we’re committed to doing it right and making it last.  And we’re thankful for your support and your patience as we do just that.

Getting back on track…

There’s no getting around the extra time and effort it will take to dig these wells deeper.  The delays will take a toll on our ability to finish them in the time we originally promised. In fact, our partner is now estimating that four of the Full WaSH projects likely won’t even begin until 2012.

So here’s what we’re going to do.

We don’t like to have funding just sit around waiting.  One of TWPs most important functions is to help our various partners balance their funding so they’re always working – all while getting funds into the field responsibly and quickly.

We’re going to reallocate funds from the four projects that are “waiting” to other ready-to-go water projects in Rwanda.  These well projects are also desperately needed.  By doing so, we’ll get the funds to work sooner and communities there will benefit in just a few months (the time needed for construction and community development).

To see if your project is being reallocated, search using your email address here >>.

We won’t leave the waiting communities behind though.  We’ll continue to raise money for these delayed projects so they will still get done. And if you’d rather keep your donation in Sierra Leone and wait with us, please let us know.  We’ll make that happen.

Perseverance is a gift too

It’s disappointing that these projects are delayed, but not because we all have to wait to see results, as much as that stinks.  Rather, it’s disappointing because we’re reminded yet again how hard this work really is.  We all want to find a simple, fast, repeatable solution.  We want a quick fix.  But there isn’t one.  So many things can and do go wrong.  New obstacles pop up all the time.  And providing clean, safe water to those in need takes more willing hands and feet – and the training to use them – then we have.  Today, there just aren’t enough folks in the toughest places to work, like Sierra Leone and Rwanda.

One of reasons we do what we do at The Water Project is to keep funds flowing to our partners so they can concentrate on training and equipping more hands – without the worry of funding their work.  Our role is to encourage and enable them to train more teams and equip more communities  so the water crisis can be solved from the inside out.

We can’t thank you enough for being a part of that with us.

Hang in there with us and together we will get to see the water come…and everything change.  We promise you that!

If you have questions, or can’t seem to find your project, please contact us here and we’ll help in any way we can.

These projects are a great example of when our team didn’t get it right the first time.  So…we’ve gone back with them, found the problems, fixed the pumps, and made substantial changes in how our partner works to ensure we don’t get it wrong again.

See the Projects Here:

Ebumamu
Eshikoni
Eburenga

We’re committed to following-up and evaluating the work we do.  Our partners help in this process as well.  When we find problems, we’re going to publish them right along with our successes.  Then, we’ll do our best to make it right.  We say it all the time, if this work were easy, it’d be done.

When you choose to support The Water Project, your gifts help ensure the promised long-term benefits of water are truly sustainable.  If we don’t go back and check…and check again, we would never know what works and what doesn’t.

Be a part of this effort with us and let’s make a truly lasting impact!

Our implementing partner wrote of the dedication ceremony… (edited for clarity)

“The handing over ceremony at Butere Girls school was very colorful as you can see from the photos. We did the handing over while Board of Governors had a meeting in school.

The Anglican priest read from the book of Exodus 1:13 about the importance of water to human life.

The Head-mistress thanked Bridge Water Project for the water supply in the school. She was very grateful that now the students will be clean and they will concentrate on studies and she expects that the results will improve. She said that she expects the relationship between Bridge and the school to continue.

One student also thanked us for the water and promised that their standards (grades) will improve since they now have water available at their school. They will try hard in their studies to excel.

The District Officer of Butere thanked Bridge Water that the water given to the school is a gift of life to the students and the entire school fraternity and the community. He encouraged the students that hard work and discipline in their education is an investment in their future. The entire community of Butere were very thankful to the donors of The Water Project for what wonderful work they are doing to save the lives of millions of people by providing safe drinking water.”

Our implementing partner reported from the ceremony…(unedited)

“Bridge Water Project officers arrived on Sunday and it was good to have the Sunday service with the Christians of St. James ACK Enanga who came in large numbers to receive their new well officially from BWP.

The Padre of the church described the well as living water that was given by Jesus Christ, as he quotes from the bible in the book of John 4:13 and there will be no thirsty, no water borne diseases to anybody who will take this water, he further said that may God bless The Water Project abundantly for them to continue blessing the needy with clean safe water all over the w world.

One of the church members who is in charge of Church Development committee described the well as a source of income to the church members, that they are going to use water from this new water source to sprinkle their crops during dry seasons and from this they will be able to raise funds to start their own small scale businesses. He also said that this new well is going to save time to the community members for them to concentrate on other activities since they will no longer walk miles away wasting time looking for dirty water. All church members were very thankful to The Water Project for providing clean water to millions of people in the world.”

This local, grass roots organization cares for orphans and helps place children in local foster homes.  This well project serves the resident orphans, the foster families and the surrounding community.

Our local implementing partner reported…(unedited)

“It was another beautiful day as we arrived at Ark of Orphans offices with the Orphans of Ark looking happy and anxious to be handed over clean and safe drinking water. One could tell as the parents, guardians and community members came in large numbers to witness the handover of the new well.

There was one Orphan child of Ark who gave a testimony describing the new well as their only savior. She said that they have been suffering from water related diseases i.e typhoid as a result of  taking turbid, muddy water, she also added that they had difficult time to concentrate on their daily activities i.e reading, singing in class instead there were forced to walk miles away looking for dirty water now she believes that this will never happen again with this new well near them. On behalf of  the Orphans of Ark she expressed thanks to The Water Project through Bridge Water Project for caring the lives of Orphans by providing them with safe clean water.

A testimony from the Director of Ark of Orphans who described the new well as a source of income to the Ark members since they will utilize this new well to start other new projects i.e brick making, crop growing and dairy farming in turn which will help to raise funds for other basic needs I,e food, clothes and education to Orphans of Ark. On behalf of staff and Board members of Ark he was very thankful to The Water Project through Bridge Water Project for remembering those people who are in need of clean water.”

Our implementing partner reported the following from the handing over ceremony. (unedited)

“It was a happy and joyous moment to people of Masingo slum when the Bridge water staff went for a handing over. We were received with their traditional songs like ‘KANO AMAUA KANDATOLA KHUNJIRA’ meaning the flowers I got on my way.

On reaching the ceremonial place, happy faces of the aged mothers and fathers together with the young men and women and their children were waiting to hear the good news from us. We had no otherwise but to declare and let them take full maintenance and operation costs of the water system.

During the ceremony, everyone from the community wanted to say thank you for what they said was a miracle in their life. A grandmother aged 85 years and who has a swollen stomach for over 10 years said that her stomach was swollen because of drinking water from the sewage. But the interesting part of her story was that for the shortest period she has used the clean water, the swollen stomach is now reducing. The old mother said that was her golden chance to have clean water since she was born. Another lady said, “Since I begun using the clean water, the problems of itching, stomach ache and severe headache have stopped.

One man stood and said that, “We are now clean and we look like other human beings, GOD came inside you people and brought life to us.”

After the testimonies, we went towards the water system and we found that the community had begun growing vegetables as a result of the water system. Also a local bathroom had been built as a source of income for maintenance and operation of the water system. The community members pay 20 shillings per house hold per month.”

The following are pictures of the handing-over ceremony.