A Year Later: Chores Done Faster!

Before we rehabilitated the well in Masome last year, every day involved grueling trips to the local stream.

"It was not easy for us in this community," said 30-year-old farmer Mabinty Sesay. "It was like hell for me considering the distance I used to cover every day to go to the stream to fetch water. From my house to the stream is very far, and most of the time I did not have enough water in my house to drink or to do all my domestic work. I have more [than one] dozen people living under my roof, and fetching water for them all was a tedious job for me and [the] other girls living with me. My children below six years [old] had to come on board to help with fetching water because it was not easy for me."

But with a rehabilitated well close by, Mabinty told us she is now able to accomplish much more throughout the day. "It is much better for me, and, I believe, the community as [a] whole. The distance has reduced and we have full access to this water facility, even though it is not providing enough water for the whole community."

Although the well has been rehabilitated to our standards, unfortunately, a regional drought has caused it to become dry during two short periods in the past year. Our field technicians answered the community's service calls on both occurrences only to find water was available within 24 hours.

"It is much more better," Mabinty said. "We are happier having this well than nothing. ...Now the number of buckets are increasing before it dries up."

Mabinty's observation lines up with our estimations, given that at the time of this reporting (August 2022), Sierra Leone's rainiest month is currently underway. With an abundance of rain incoming and The Water Project building more wells in Mabinty's area than ever before, life in Masoma should continue to get easier.