Giving Update: Mondor Community Well

Life for people in Mondor Community, Sierra Leone has improved in the year since we completed the rehabilitation of their well. They have had access to a safe, reliable source of water throughout the year. There are no longer concerns about the well running dry or having to go to unsafe open sources, like the swamp, to collect water.

“My life has greatly changed in particularly one respect. Lateness is school is no longer a daily occurrence because I no longer go the swamp to fetch water to take [a] bath before going to school," said Mohamed Suma, a 15-year-old student we met at the well.

"We do everything that is water-related now in this community with our well. After school, I come here to fetch water for drinking, bathing, and laundering my uniform.”

There is an improvement in the area of hygiene and sanitation, observed our teams after a recent visit to the community. This shows the willingness of this community to change their sanitation and hygiene practices following the training that was provided alongside the well construction. Walking through the community, we saw households with tippy-tap handwashing stations and dishracks - evidence that the lessons learned are still being put into practice.

These changes are enabled by the implementation of the water project in this community. With water easily available, community members can now worry about other things.

”We want to thank God for this project in our community, it has helped solve a lot of problems in our village," said Alie Bangura, a local chief and caretaker of the well.

"The children were constantly punished for being late to school. The water shortages of the past forced the students to travel long distances to the swamp to get water and make them late for school. Teachers would punish them for being late. But now that is no longer the case. We thank God for this water project, it has helped to remedy the situation. The water is good to drink and very pure."