Lungi - New London - #9 Jalloh St
Project Snapshot
Country: Sierra Leone
GPS Coordinates:
Latitude 8.649200
Longitude -13.212717
Impact:
Total Served: 250
Status: Completed (?)
Completion Date (or estimate): 12/30/2010
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When the team arrived the community was utilizing an open, contaminated well as their primary source of water and because of this residents were suffering from Dysentery and Malaria. There were several students, living in the community who assisted with the hygiene education. The community worked diligently together during the team's stay and specifically assisted the team by providing materials and labor whenever possible. The majority of community residents sustain a living by petty trading, farming, teaching and fishing. The nearest school is located .5
of a kilometer away from the community whose students, teachers and administrative personnel all have access to the new, safe water source. Before leaving the community the team provided Chief Amara Bangura with a LWI contact number incase their well were to fall into disrepair, become subject to vandalism or theft.
The team had an opportunity to meet with twenty-eight year old community resident and housewife, Fatmata Marrah who stated, "The previous source was not clean. Sometimes we needed to go to the stream. With the new hand pump it will not be like that. Having the well sealed up will control the spread of germs and improve the quality of the water. It is also closer than the stream. I'm happy for this development."
There were twenty-eight adults and sixty-three children who attended the hygiene education. During the training the following principal issues were addressed: Disease transmission, Germs, Hand Washing- proper techniques and water saving methods, Healthy Unhealthy Communities, Oral Rehydration Solution, Proper care of the pump,
Keeping the water clean, Good-bad hygiene behaviors and Disease Transmission Stories. After the training the team distributed twenty-eight Oral Rehydration Solution spoons and the community expressed their thanks. The community children assisted with the hygiene education as much as possible, as they all lived in the facility where the education was conducted. The team addressed the current practice of open defecation and shared a process of constructing a native toilet and the importance of using it.
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Sponsors
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.
