Kamara Street Well Repair
Project Snapshot
Country: Sierra Leone
GPS Coordinates:
Latitude 8.624917
Longitude -13.206917
Impact:
Total Served: 700
Status: Completed (?)
Completion Date (or estimate): 09/29/2010
Share this Project
Our implementing partner reports from the field...This community is located in the Port Loko district of Sierra Leone. Most people in the community earn a living through teaching, petty farming, medical and police personnel and working at the airport. Their previous water source was from an open well that caused typhoid, diarrhea and malaria in the community. The community helped the LWI Sierra Leone rehab team by providing materials, labor and security. This community only had a caretaker of the well. The team helped the community with some ideas for rules on proper use of the well. They also informed the community at the well dedication that a water well committee would soon be formed and encouraged them to work together to insure that this well would be well maintained. The community was receptive to this idea and agreed to work with the caretaker and Miss Dolly on this endeavor.
Miss Dolly Tarawalie, 27 year old teacher spoke with the team about the water needs for her community. "The well water is more pure. We don't usually see particles in the water. When we get water from the local tap there are particles in the water. We need to let that water settle down before we can use it. The water from the open well using the rope and rubber is always dirty. I'm so thankful for what you've done."
The community gathered with the team around the well to pray before any work was begun. As we encountered problems, we stopped and prayed for wisdom on how to proceed. The community saw that without the help of God we would not have been able to do what was done. Upon completion of the project, we gathered the community back around the well and dedicated it to Papa God.
Hygiene Training
There were 20 adults and 33 children who attended the training. Miss Dolly, one of the teachers assisted the team’s hygiene trainer with the training. Along with the topics listed below they stressed the importance of not defecating in this area. They talked about native toilets and how to build them. The team talked with the caretaker and Miss Dolly about the sustainability of the well and that if there are any problems to contact the team. The community was very excited about the information that they had learned at the hygiene training. Topics discussed: disease transmission, germs, hand washing- proper techniques and water saving methods, healthy/unhealthy communities, diarrhea doll- causes of diarrhea, oral rehydration solution, proper care of the pump, keeping the water clean, good-bad hygiene behaviors, disease transmission stories, clean hands/clean hearts.
Project Photos
Country Details
Sierra Leone
- Population: 9.7 Million
- Lacking clean water: 47%
- Below poverty line: 70%
- Climate: Tropical; hot, humid; summer rainy season; winter dry season
- Languages: English, Mende, Temne, Krio
- Ethnic Groups: 20 African ethnic groups 90% (Temne 30%, Mende 30%, other 30%), Creole (Krio) 10%
- Life Expectancy: 48 years
- Infant Mortality Rate: 155 deaths per 1000 live births
Partner Profile
Living Water International
Nearly 20 years ago, we set out to help the church in North America be the hands and feet of Jesus by serving the poorest of the poor. 600 million people in the world live on less than $2 a day. 884 million people lack access to safe drinking water.
For all practical purposes, these statistics refer to the same people; around the world, communities are trapped in debilitating poverty because they constantly suffer from water-related diseases and parasites, and/or because they spend long stretches of their time carrying water over long distances.
In response to this need, we implement participatory, community-based water solutions in developing countries. Since we started, we’ve completed water projects for 7,000 communities in 26 countries.
It all began in 1990, when a group from Houston, Texas traveled to Kenya and saw the desperate need for clean drinking water. They returned to Houston and founded a 501(c)3 non-profit. The fledgling organization equipped and trained a team of Kenyan drillers, and LWI Kenya began operations the next year under the direction of a national board.
That pattern continues today; we train, consult, and equip local people to implement solutions in their own countries.
Remembering the life-changing nature of that first trip in 1990, we also lead hundreds of volunteers on mission trips each year, working with local communities, under the leadership of nationals, to implement water projects. It’s hard to know which lives are changed more—those “serving” or those “being served.”
Our training programs in shallow well drilling, pump repair, and hygiene education have equipped thousands of volunteers and professionals in the basics of integrated water solutions since 1997.
