A Year Later: Benke Community, Turay Street
A year ago, generous donors helped restore water to a well in Benke Community, Sierra Leone. The contributions of incredible monthly donors and others giving directly to The Water Promise allow teams to visit project sites throughout the year, strengthening relationships with communities and evaluating the water project over time. These consistent visits allow us to learn vital lessons and hear amazing stories – we’re excited to share this one from Omoh Emmanuel with you.
Life in this community has changed drastically when compared to past years. People are truly practicing hygiene here, and they take good care of the water point. With several interviews with different community members, we learned that people in this community don’t normally fall sick. Why? They answered saying that they always try to follow the hygiene and sanitation teachings we taught last year.
Mr. Alhaji Bangura is on the water user committee and has witnessed this among many other positive developments.
"The biggest changes in this community is that we have 98% coverage of toilet facilities, clotheslines, and dish racks. We also work with child health clubs to promote health and hygiene practices. Since your organization came and taught us about hygiene and sanitation, we try very hard to put things into practice," Mr. Bangura reported.
From left to right: Alhaji Bangura, Rabiatu Koroma, Omoh Emmanuel
"We are now boasting of good health in our community!"
Restoration of the well is only one step along the journey toward sustainable access to clean water. The Water Project is committed to consistent monitoring of each water source. Our monitoring and evaluation program, made possible by donors like you, allows us to maintain our relationships with communities by visiting up to 4 times each year to ensure that the water points are safe and reliable.
Little Rabiatu Koroma also stopped by the well to get a jerrycan of water. She said that there is "easy, accessible safe drinking water" from this well.
Rabiatu and Mr. Bangura
Rabiatu now boasts of "good performance in my academic career because I can get to school on time."
This is just one of the many ways that we monitor projects and communicate with you. Additionally, you can always check the functionality status and our project map to see how all of our water points are performing, based on our consistent monitoring data.
One project is just a drop in the bucket towards ending the global water crisis, but the ripple effects of this project are truly astounding. This functional well in Benke is changing many lives.
This is not possible without the web of support and trust built between The Water Project, our local teams, the community, and you. We are excited to stay in touch with this community and support their journey with safe water.
Read more about The Water Promise and how you can help.
See The Water Project in Alhaji Bangura's Community »