Project Status



Project Type:  Borehole Well and Hand Pump

Regional Program: Port Loko, Sierra Leone WaSH Program

Impact: 206 Served

Project Phase:  In Service - Dec 2016

Functionality Status:  Functional

Last Checkup: 07/30/2024

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!

Please enjoy the following report comes straight from the field, edited for clarity and readability:

Welcome to the Community

A normal day in Katelleh Village starts very early. This community depends on two types of farming, swamp and dry land farming. Most of the men have more than one wife, and some as many as four, the maximum allowed by the Islamic Law. I spoke with one man about having more than one wife, and he responded by saying the work on his farm is too much for just one woman. Older brides are left home as nannies, taking of the children and domestic work around the house. When the adults go to the farm to work, the children go with them with a slingshot in hand, ready to drive birds away from the crops.

The best part of farming is that food here is fresh, eaten on the same day it's harvested. Life here is more enjoyable during the dry season. The rainy season is for planting, and the dry season is for harvesting.

There are 206 people from 12 different households living in Katelleh Village.

Water Situation

Women and children are those responsible for fetching their families' water. The only source of water they have is a swamp nearby. When there, they wade knee-deep into the swamp to dunk and fill their containers. Most of these are big rubber buckets. When the swamp water is delivered home, it is separated between open containers and covered containers. The covered containers are reserved for drinking.

The only good thing about the swamp's water is how cool it is. It's refreshing after spending the day in the hot sun! But the water here is certainly contaminated. After drinking, stomachs are bloated, skin rashes up, and people complain of typhoid, cholera, and diarrhea on a daily basis. The swamp is also full of leeches. When standing in the water, one is always sure to maintain a quick march to prevent those leeches from attaching.

Sanitation Situation

Under a quarter of households have a pit latrine. Most of these are pits eight to 10 feet deep with a board suspended over the top. Sticks are poked in the ground and palm leaves or tarps are stretched around them to make walls. A piece of cloth is hung at the entrance for minimal privacy. When a family's latrine fills up, they dig a new one. It is normal for locals to plant mango or coconut trees around the old latrine, but never vegetables.

Not many homes have bathing rooms, either. Some of the ones we found were missing walls. Nor are there many helpful tools like dish racks or clotheslines to safely dry belongings. We were able to find one hand-washing station in the entire village, and have included the picture in the "See Photos & Video" section.

We met Fatmata Kargbo when making house calls. She shared, "I am a 52-year-old widow. My husband died a few years ago and I have decided not to remarry. It is a small village, but people have been dying and I don't know for sure it's the water, but I know it plays a part. The health situation is bad!"

Plans: Hygiene and Sanitation Training

Training will be offered to the community for three days. At least one representative of each household is required to attend. The facilitator will use the PHAST (Participatory Hygiene and Sanitation Training) method to teach participants how to make their own hand-washing stations, wash hands, construct proper latrines, and many other topics. By the end of training, each household that participated will have their own hand-washing station. The training will also prepare a water user committee that will oversee and maintain the new well.

Plans: New Well

The vehicle that normally supplies the water needed for wet rotary drilling will not be able to make it over the makeshift bridge in the area. Instead, the community has agreed to fetch and carry all of the water needed. They will also lend helping hands and overnight security for our equipment throughout the process.

The well site is in the center of Katelleh Village. It is far from all latrines and the old cemetery. This makes it the most convenient and safest location for drilling a clean water source.

During our initial visit to Katelleh Village, we met Mohamed Fofanah, a 48-year-old farmer. He told us, "I am proud to say I was born and raised in this village. We are very skeptical about people that come to our community and promise us the world and then never deliver. We have had people from the government and other organizations, usually months before elections. After receiving our votes, they forget about us. We outnumber the educated people in this country and our voices should be heard! If you are coming here to save me, my children and my brothers and sisters, you are welcome in this village."

Project Updates


December, 2017: A Year Later: Katelleh Village

A year ago, generous donors helped build a new well with Katelleh Village in Sierra Leone. Because of these gifts and contributions from our monthly donors, partners can 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, Nanah Mansaray, 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!


"The happiness for this well cannot be explained; no test will ever accurately measure how happy and excited we are in this village. Our children now have a fighting chance; they will be getting fresh drinking water which can save a lot of lives."

Mohamed Fofanah

A Year Later: Katelleh Village

November, 2017

I always go to school on time and even the environment is clean, there are drying racks, cloth line and even our even our rubber that we use to fetched water are being cleaned before fetching water.

Keeping The Water Promise

There's an incredible community of monthly donors who have come alongside you in supporting clean water in Katelleh Village.

This giving community supports ongoing sustainability programs that help Katelleh Village 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 new well with Katelleh Village in Sierra Leone. Because of these gifts and contributions from our monthly donors, partners can 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, Nanah Mansaray, with you.


Life has improved for the people of Katelleh Village in many ways. The people have been drinking swamp water for so many years which was not good for their health and they have been experiencing sicknesses which are vomiting and diarrhea. But from the completion of this water project and they started using sanitation facilities, all this sickness has stopped.

Chairlady Fatmata Kargbo shares her experience since the new water source was installed last year. “The biggest changes that happen in our community is our children now go to school on time, we prepared food for our family on time and we hardly heard that a snake has bitten someone on their way to the stream. Now, we are enjoying this facility and we don’t spend much time on fetching water for drinking, laundry, bathing etc.”

“Since this project was brought here, our life has changed because we have safe and clean water to drink,” shares 15-year-old Umaru Kamara. “I always go to school on time and even the environment is clean, there are drying racks, cloth line and even our even our rubber that we use to fetched water are being cleaned before fetching water.”

The community was clean and the pump was working properly but the community can improve their sanitation practices. Our staff will continue to support this project by monitoring and chlorinating the well and help in maintenance of the pump when necessary. We will also offer refresher training the community people on good hygienic and proper sanitation practices.


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 4 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 Katelleh Village 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 Katelleh Village – 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

Paul and Caryn Koenig
11 individual donor(s)