A Year Later: Tombo Bana Community

A year ago, generous donors helped restore water to a well in Tombo Bana 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.

There are great improvements in Tombo Bana thanks to the presence of water. People no longer go the swamp or any of the other unprotected water points, since they now know the difference between protected and unprotected water sources. This well provides the reliable, clean drinking water they need.

We spoke with Mr. Dauda Sesay and Molai Bangura to talk about some of the other changes they have noticed over the past year.

Mr. Sesay is the pump caretaker and works to ensure that people follow the rules when fetching water from this well. Mr. Sesay proudly keeps the area clean and is always the first to call us if the well needs maintenance.

"Now, we have clean, safe, and available water in the community compared to previous years when we were all going to the swamps..." confirmed Mr. Sesay.

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.

Molai Bangura is 14 years old and attends SLMB Tombo Bana Primary School. He is happy not only to have clean water but to see a few social changes happening. After training sessions, the community realized that they should be doing everything they can to support their schoolgoing children. Children used to have to wait in the back of the line for everything, but now adults allow children to go first. This gives students like Molai the chance to return home and do his chores quickly so that he can move on to his homework.

From left to right: Mr. Dauda Sesay, Molai Bangura, and Omoh Emmanuel

"Since this improvement came to our community, I am hardly late for school. As students, we have first priority in the morning to fetch water," shared Molai.

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 Tombo Bana 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.