Kitonki Community

November, 2017: Kitonki Community Project Complete

Kitonki Community, Sierra Leone now has a well that provides clean water throughout the year, thanks to your donation! Hundreds of people are no longer stranded without clean water during the dry months. Hygiene and sanitation training was also conducted, which focused on healthy practices such as washing hands and using latrines. This water and new knowledge give the community a great foothold in eliminating water and sanitation-related illness. Please enjoy this update detailing all of the work that was done in Kitonki Community, and be sure to check out the tons of new pictures!

Thank You for unlocking potential in this community. You made clean water a reality, and now you have a chance to make sure it keeps flowing. Join our team of monthly donors and help us, our caretakers, and our mechanics maintain this well and hundreds of other projects!

Project Result: New Knowledge

We met with all of the key leaders in Kitonki to communicate the need for hygiene and sanitation training. People made announcements about training at the wharf where men were fishing, and in the mosque after prayers. Because of concerted effort, attendance ended up being great. Total participants started in the 70s and then increased to over 80 on the third day.

We met under a large mango tree, and a community leader provided a tent for additional shade.

Some of the topics covered during training were as follows:

– How to wash hands, and how to build a hand-washing station from a jerrycan, string, sticks, and netting

– Good and bad hygiene practices

– Dish racks and how to build them

– Keeping animals under control

– Management and maintenance of the hand pump

There was also a demonstration where the trainer went around shaking hands with all in attendance. Each individual noticed a glittery shine on their hands after the handshakes. This introduced a practical lesson: What are you seeing on your hands? They answer by saying “we are seeing shine-shine on our hands,” and that’s when the facilitators bring home the idea that these signify germs. We are always vulnerable to them, and need to keep clean by practicing good personal hygiene. This set us up for a strong transition into how to make hand-washing stations.

Each person brought an empty jerrycan and we provided the string to make hand-washing stations!

Diagrams portraying unhealthy practices such as walking barefoot, open defecation, outdoor urination, and eating with unwashed hands were all shown and discussed in groups. What behaviors make a community healthy, and what others are counterproductive?

Community members help by holding up illustrations of everyday happenings that affect hygiene and sanitation.

The final day, we continued these types of discussions. While on the first day we had led people through hand-washing station construction, this third day was similar in that we elaborated on the need for and the viability of building other sanitation facilities like latrines, dish racks, and animal pens. We taught participants what materials to use, proving that even the poorest family can afford to build at least a traditional pit latrine.

The trainer discussing the importance of using a dish rack.

Mrs. Ramatu Kamara was very happy with what she learned. "This hygiene training helped me a lot to make changes in my life in terms of using tippy taps (hand-washing stations) for the frequent hand-washing. Thank God they made me to have better sense and understanding the importance of not sleeping with the animals. We value our animals, that's why we sleep with them and the thief steal them. Now we get to know how to build a house for them. I will tell my husband to build a house for them to keep them separate from all of us. I value this training because it imposed some bylaws to the people in this community," she shared. She then turned to the other participants and training and implored them "not to use the toilet on the beach anymore!"

Ramatu Kamara

Project Result: A Reliable Water Well

We spearheaded a new method of converting the bottom of a hand-dug well into a borehole. When we started this process, the well was at 65 feet deep with three feet of water. At this time of the year, community members were only able to draw one or two containers of water before the well needed rest. In a few more weeks, the well would have been completely dry.

The team set up the tripod and pulley over the well. Depending on the diameter of the well, the team either drills from inside the well or from ground level. The team worked from ground level here in Kitonki.

First, they installed 6″ PVC casing through the hatch cover down to the bottom of the well. This ensured that the drilling began straight and also kept the hole from collapsing. They connected the bucket auger drill bit to the drilling rod and lowered it into the well, continuing to add more drill rods until they hit the bottom. Each drill rod is 18 feet in length and every time the team empties the bucket auger, they must reverse the process by disconnecting the rods until the drill bit can be emptied. This method is more labor intensive, but working from the top was much safer in this circumstance. There are different drill bits for different conditions, a special bit just for clay, one for sand, one for rocks and one combination bit for all three conditions.

Drilling is tough when it's by hand!

After drilling five feet, the team ran into a plastic bucket that one of the community members had dropped down the well. It had been completely sealed in silt, and the drill bit just wouldn't go through the plastic. The team had to shift to a different drilling location at the other side of the hatch because of this. This time, they missed the plastic. They ran into sand, red clay, and a mix of both. At 85 feet, the team ran into black clay which is bad for drinking water.

They lowered 18 feet of casing slotted for screen down to 83 feet, and then dumped six buckets of filter pack between the two casings. The team could then hoist out the temporary casing.

Iron rods were cemented into the well lining and attached to the casing to support the weight of the PVC and keep it straight from bottom to top. The team welded a collar in the pump base to further support the casing.

The well was developed by bailing; two men bailed by hand for four days to ensure proper development. The well could then be tested by installing a submersible pump at 70 feet and using it for one hour. The team measured the discharge, which was 390 gallons. The static water level of 62 feet dropped about two feet, but only took three minutes to recharge. Thus, the yield is 24 liters per minute.

Testing the well yield as the community gathers round!

With this success, we could build a new walled well pad and install the new stainless steel hand-pump.

As clean water flowed from the new pump, we gathered around the well where the community listened to music and began dancing with happiness for the rejuvenation of this clean water well. The village leader, chairman, and caretaker of the well all shared their gratefulness in front of the crowd. The caretaker reminded everyone to practice good hygiene and sanitation around the water well. She said, "It was very hard to have safe drinking water when the water table went down in this water well. But now, we will have plenty of water in this well!"

October, 2017: Kitonki Community Project Underway

Kitonki Community will soon have a source of safe and clean water that works year round, thanks to your generous donation. A well that is dry for four months every year is being deepened, and a new pump installed. For those four months, community members have no choice but to drink dirty water from the swamp again. The community will also receive training in sanitation and hygiene. Imagine the difference these resources will make for this community!

We just posted an initial report from our partner in the field including an introduction to the community, maps, and pictures. We’ll keep you updated as the work progresses.

Thank You for caring for the thirsty!