A Year Later: An Expanding Community of Realized Dreams

Morlai Kamara, 56, is the harbormaster in Rosint Community. He has lived through several generations of water crisis in his community, and remembers the struggles of living without water as if they happened yesterday.

"The living conditions [were] very poor for me and my family," Morlai said.

"My family had to go down the swamp, which was the only source of drinking water in [the] entire community since its establishment. During these times, we were battling with various health conditions like cholera, diarrhea, typhoid, and other diseases that I cannot measure, because I am not a medical expert, but I know these common ones.

"And sometimes, the swamp water [would] dry up in the dry season due to [a] lack of rain. This was the most painful moment for me and [the] community people. We, the men, had to dig it deeper every year, maybe like four times, before [the] raining season [would come] before we had access to water. And sometimes, the deeper we dug the swamp, the more the water [would] become salty because we are close to the sea."

But since Rosint's well was constructed last year, as Morlai explained, all of this has changed for the better.

"I am grateful for such [an] opportunity as [an] elderly person in this community," Morlai continued.

"The joy in my mind is too much that I don't know how to express it right now. My community is free from all the sicknesses that we used to spend plenty [of] money on because this water facility is providing [us] with clean and safe drinking water. It has relie[ved] the burden I used to have when we [got] closer to the dry season.

"This water facility has brought us off the swamp, which was our previous source of drinking water. Because of this water facility in this community, more buildings are coming up and people are buying land to build more houses, thus the community is expanding. And our hygiene and sanitation has improved greatly compared to the previous years."

When we asked Morlai about his goals for the future, he said that his goal was clean drinking water, and that it has already been achieved.

"For a long time now, I have wanted to have access to clean and safe drinking water in my community so that [our] women and children will be free from waterborne diseases that were affecting us greatly. We thank God that we have achieved that dream a year ago. This has been my plan and goal, and I and [my] community have achieved it."

Morlai pumps water while community women celebrate clean water.