A Year Later: Mapeh Community

September, 2018

“As for me, since they dug this water well we have never gone to school late because we use to go to the swamp very early in the morning to fetch water…” -Nabie Conteh

A Year Later: Mapeh Community


A year ago, generous donors helped restore water to a well in Mapeh 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 Edward Amara with you.


There is still so much change going on in Mapeh thanks to the hygiene and sanitation training last year and follow-up visits since then. We spoke to an old woman who told us how she learned sicknesses are normally transferred from one person to another through the hands. She knows the consequences of having dirty hands and is bent on keeping hers clean. We walked around nine other households and they were all very clean.

Containers full of water are still present at households all over the community. These are used for handwashing.

We spoke with a farmer, Mr. Alusine Kamara, and a young boy named Nabie Conteh to talk about other changes they've seen over the past year.

"We now have pure water in the community. Also before, we suffered to get enough water for our domestic use. Moreover, our women used to go to the swamp to fetch water. Now, this suffering ended at the time this organization came in this community," shared Mr. Kamara.

Mr. Kamara and Nabie Conteh

Nabie Conteh is a 14-year-old student at St. Joseph Senior Secondary School. He told us about how having water has helped him in school.

"As for me, since they dug this water well we have never gone to school late because we use to go to the swamp very early in the morning to fetch water which would take us about one and half hours to get back and by so doing, we use to get to school late every day," Nabie shared.

Edward Kamara observed that households are much cleaner than they were a year ago before training.

He continued, "Our people in this community cooperated and worked together with the hygiene team. This is why we are not experiencing any other challenges, because we now clean our community and toilet every day."

Installation 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.

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 Mapeh Community 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 Nabie Conteh's Community »

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