Project Status



Project Type:  Borehole Well and Hand Pump

Regional Program: Port Loko, Sierra Leone WaSH Program

Impact: 400 Served

Project Phase:  In Service - Jul 2016

Functionality Status:  Functional

Last Checkup: 10/15/2024

Project Features


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Community Profile

Ebola’s Impact

Ebola has been a tragic reality for the people of Sierra Leone over the last two years. Though considered stable at the moment, the country is still very cautious.

Our teams have remained safe and are on the front lines of Ebola prevention through this water, hygiene and sanitation program.  Your support acknowledges and celebrates their selfless work and bravery.

The entire team continues to express their gratitude for your support of communities in Sierra Leone, and we can’t wait to celebrate safe water together!

Welcome to the School

A normal day for teachers and students of Sanaya Memorial Academy begins at 5:30 am. Ibrahim Sorie Kamara, vice principal, wakes up especially early to wash before going to the mosque for morning prayers. After prayers, he suits up and begins the long trek to his school grounds. He lives three miles away from the school yard! The vice principal is the first to arrive at the school every morning to prepare documents and time sheets for the teachers to sign upon arrival. The students arrive at 7:30 am, and at 8 am they start devotionals. The school is a Christian, but with students and teachers from all religious backgrounds. The school is the first secondary school in the Mamankie Section to have a population of over six thousand people! Some of these students travel up to six miles for school. The ones that can afford a motorcycle ride instead of walk. The others who cannot afford motorcycles will either use bicycles or get up at the crack of dawn for the long walk.

(Editor's Note: While this many people may have access on any given day, realistically a single water source can only support a population of 350-500 people. This community would be a good candidate for a second project in the future so adequate water is available. To learn more, click here.)

The school offers a broad range of subjects so that students have the opportunity to catch up with peers who attend better-funded schools. This school is a blessing to the community, so if a borehole is dug within the schoolyard, the blessings will continue. All the classrooms have drinking buckets with water that is fetched from a stream roughly forty minutes away from the school. Both the students and teachers drink contaminated water on a daily basis simply because there is no other option. Either drink the dirty water or suffer from dehydration, and whoever can afford to buy bottled water does so. The students cannot even afford to buy food, so it is very unlikely that they can afford water.

Water Situation

The stream yields water that is obviously contaminated. The water flows by very slowly, and thus becomes very muddy as locals fetch.

Students opt for using containers with large openings in order to see large debris such as rags, soap suds and old slippers that could easily be scooped from the water. Since the stream is far from school, a five-gallon bucket is the container of choice for the students, no larger. They will take off their shoes and socks to enter the stream with water knee-deep. Fetching water from this stream requires a keen eye and close attention not to take a tadpole or small fish back to school! After the water is brought back from the stream, twenty minutes is allowed for it to settle.

A visit to the stream reveals people doing laundry just inches away from where the students fetch drinking water. Dirty rags, leaves, and all kinds of debris was seen floating in the stream. Even some of the students and community members use the bushes just above the stream as toilets.

Students complain of stomachaches, fevers and headaches on a daily basis. Students miss many days of school because of bacterial infections they get from drinking this contaminated water. These are classic symptoms of typhoid!

Sanitation Situation

There are four usable pit latrines on campus, which all need improvements. The smell is awful and stains are all over. There is no evidence of soap or any other disinfectant - there is just water. The stalls are very small and the doors do not lock properly. As of now, the roof is the only good thing about these latrines. Open defecation is also an issue since there are only four stalls available for such a large student population. There are three hand-washing buckets, but these do not have soap available either.

The school disposes of garbage behind the latrines, and the paper trash is burnt. We will be working with the school to have a dustbin dug and a stick fence built around this area. We will encourage weekly burning during the dry season and will discuss a plan for when the rains come: trash should be thrown into the hole rather than on the school grounds.

Plans: Hygiene and Sanitation Training

Community members, teachers, and students will be trained for three days, three hours a day.

The objectives specific to Sanaya Memorial Academy Secondary School are sanitation, proper methods of hand-washing, and environmental hygiene. The school lacks adequate latrines for the amount of students, teachers, and staff, as well as the traders who sell food products inside the school compound. The school has access to dirt, so they could beat mud blocks to build additional latrines. We will encourage the school to construct another set of latrines, along with repairing and cleaning the ones they already have.

Members of the Child Health Club will also have a chance to build their own hand-washing stations. Students will bring a one-gallon container to construct these during training.

Plans: New Borehole

Vice Principal Ibrahim Sorie Kamara says, "Clean water, clean hands, clean hearts; clean and brilliant students. The current health situation is manageable! The constant stomachache, fever and typhoid are daily occurrence. The constant absent of students is due to the unsafe water source the school depend for their drinking water." He submitted an application to our office, and after initial visits and reviews, the school was chosen for a new borehole. Their needs and cries for help echoed through to us loud and clear. Initially, this school was considered for a well rehabilitation. However, a closer inspection of the inside revealed that the well had not been constructed properly, caisson were dislodged across the bottom of the well, and the lining was not properly tied. It would have been like burning money to repair this kind of well; the better use of funds is to drill a borehole which will serve this school and community for generations to come.

The new well will be located on school grounds, and the households within ten to five hundred meters are also allowed to use the pump. Now that students (especially the girls) have the ability to remain on school grounds throughout the day, they no longer have to fear the sexual harassment they previously encountered on their way to fetch water.

The headman is just one person living nearby who will benefit from the proposed well. The vice principal, Mr. Kamara, is overjoyed about having a well in his school. The school was built for the thousands of students who cannot afford to attend other schools because of their high fees. Both the headman and school leadership are enthused. Mr. Kamara thankfully shared, "Generations passed and finally God has done it for us!"

Project Updates


December, 2017: A Year Later: Sanaya Memorial Academy Secondary School

A year ago, generous donors helped build a well for students attending Sanaya Memorial Academy Secondary School, which is also enjoyed by the surrounding community. Because of these gifts and contributions from our monthly donors, partners are able to visit project sites throughout the year, strengthening relationships with communities and evaluating the actual water project. These consistent visits allow us to learn vital lessons and hear amazing stories – we’re excited to share this one from our partner, Madieu Turay, with you.




Project Photos


Project Type

Abundant water is often right under our feet! Beneath the Earth’s surface, rivers called aquifers flow through layers of sediment and rock, providing a constant supply of safe water. For borehole wells, we drill deep into the earth, allowing us to access this water which is naturally filtered and protected from sources of contamination at the surface level. First, we decide where to drill by surveying the area and determining where aquifers are likely to sit. To reach the underground water, our drill rigs plunge through meters (sometimes even hundreds of meters!) of soil, silt, rock, and more. Once the drill finds water, we build a well platform and attach a hand pump. If all goes as planned, the community is left with a safe, closed water source providing around five gallons of water per minute! Learn more here!


A Year Later: Sanaya Memorial Academy Secondary School

September, 2017

“This project had made me stop being late to school all the time!”

Keeping The Water Promise

There's an incredible community of monthly donors who have come alongside you in supporting clean water in Sanaya Memorial Academy Secondary School.

This giving community supports ongoing sustainability programs that help Sanaya Memorial Academy Secondary School maintain access to safe, reliable water. Together, they keep The Water Promise.

We’re confident you'll love joining this world-changing group committed to sustainability!

A year ago, generous donors helped build a well for students attending Sanaya Memorial Academy Secondary School, which is also enjoyed by the surrounding community. Because of these gifts and contributions from our monthly donors, partners are able to visit project sites throughout the year, strengthening relationships with communities and evaluating the actual water project. These consistent visits allow us to learn vital lessons and hear amazing stories – we’re excited to share this one from our partner, Madieu Turay, with you.

Parents used to be afraid to register their children at Sanaya Memorial because of reports on its poor hygiene and sanitation. Students not only had to leave class in search of water throughout the day, but would also have to leave in search of latrines; the four latrines at school needed buckets of water to flush. Without the water for flushing toilets and cleaning school facilities, everything was extraordinarily filthy. Now, students no longer have to leave class during a lecture to find water, nor do they have to fear using their own latrines - they have clean water right on school grounds!

5083 YAR 2

Kadiatu Kamara, pictured above, is an art teacher here. "Before, we went to the stream to fetch water and shower before going to school. But since this project came to our school and community, I stop going to the stream and fetch water to launder and shower. This project had made me stop being late to school all the time!" There's so much clean water at the well that the school agreed to allow community members to use it throughout the day so that they too no longer have to fetch dirty water from the stream. However, Teacher Kamara told us that "one of the biggest problem that I have in this institution is our community do not have a water well. Our parents come to school to fetch water while we're lecturing. Overcrowding at the water point, community people normally make noise for us while we're teaching."

5083 YAR 1

Pump caretaker and local farmer Kelfalah Kamara added that "this project has helped a lot in the improvement of this institution since last year. We use the well to fetch water for the construction of the school building, and we use the well for promotion of hygiene and sanitation." They have even planted a school garden!

5083 YAR 4

Keeping the well at this school flowing with clean water is a key way to support this school and their community in all of their endeavors, and we’re excited to stay in relationship with them as they continue their journey. It would be ideal if the community surrounding Sanaya Memorial could have their own clean water well, and we even had a project scheduled there last year. But when our drill team showed up, a local chased them away with a machete! We have been working with the community to resolve conflicts, and they have since apologized and applied to be considered for a water project next year. We hope that the great success seen at the school will continue to have a ripple effect on their community!

The Water Project and our partners are committed to consistent monitoring of each water source. Our monitoring and evaluation program, made possible by monthly donors, allows us to visit communities up to four times a year. Read more about our program and how you can help.


Navigating through intense dry spells, performing preventative maintenance, conducting quality repairs when needed and continuing to assist community leaders to manage water points are all normal parts of keeping projects sustainable. The Water Promise community supports ongoing sustainability programs that help Sanaya Memorial Academy Secondary School maintain access to safe, reliable water.

We’d love for you to join this world-changing group committed to sustainability.

The most impactful way to continue your support of Sanaya Memorial Academy Secondary School – and hundreds of other places just like this – is by joining our community of monthly givers.

Your monthly giving will help provide clean water, every month... keeping The Water Promise.


Contributors

Master Pools Guild Fundraising Page
1 individual donor(s)