Rehabilitation Project
The Poultry Street community in Rosint has become a very diversified community with tailors, farmers, petty traders, fishers, carpenters, and the list of professions goes on and on. Large trees that practically cover the entire house line the backyard of every home. The large trees act as protection from the hot and humid sun. Pigs and chicken also look for a shady environment to rest and look for any available water. Further down the bumpy road, stands on either side houses that lead to one of the several swamp land used for planting various fruits and vegetables.
In the past, most of the 227 people here used a hand-dug well for water. But the property was purchased by someone who closed community access to the well. Left with no other place to fetch water, they have no option but to use any available source regardless of the quality. All privately owned wells are under lock and key. Getting up early in the morning, children, men, and women go in separate directions looking for any available water source.
The primary water source is at the home of one of the law enforcement officers, Mr. Samuel Sesay, a high ranking police officer. He allows community members to access water from the well. However, it is near his farm. From past experiences, wells with no fence or gate and dug less than 40 feet deep have a likely chance that the water is contaminated. And since the well is on private property, there is the chance that Mr. Sesay could restrict access at any time.
"I still get up very early in the morning to fetch water before the whole neighborhood starts to come. My mother and father have given my siblings and me strict instructions to never prevent anyone from using the well," said his daughter Kadiatu.
There is one member of the community by the name of Alpha Bangura, who provides water delivery services to people here. His hours of operation start at 8 am and end at 2 pm a schedule that never changes for anyone. He gets paid to fetch water, and some people prefer using his services at a reasonable price, then subject their children or themselves to the embarrassment of rejection from using the private wells. Alpha is known throughout the community, and preferential treatment is always offered to him. There are no restrictions on private wells for Alpha. The other families that can not afford his services resort to having their family members take up the responsibility.
What we can do:
New Well
We will be drilling this well at Poultry Street. This project will relieve the people here of the their water challenges.
Our team will drive over the LS200 mud rotary drill rig and set up camp for a couple of nights. Once the well is drilled to a sufficient water column, it will be cased, developed, and then tested. If these tests are positive, our mechanics will install a new India Mark II pump.
This community has been pushed to open, contaminated well for their water. By drilling this borehole, Tholmossor Community will be provided with plenty of accessible clean drinking water.
Training
There will be hygiene and sanitation training sessions offered for three days in a row.
Community members will learn how to make a handsfree handwashing station called the "tippy-tap." We will use these tippy taps for handwashing demonstrations and will also teach about other tools like dish racks and the importance of properly penning in animals. We will highlight the need to keep latrines clean, among many other topics.
This training will also strengthen a water user committee that will manage and maintain this new well. They will enforce proper behavior and report to us whenever they need our help in solving a serious problem, like a pump breakdown.
