Project Status



Project Type:  Borehole Well and Hand Pump

Regional Program: Port Loko, Sierra Leone WaSH Program

Impact: 60 Served

Project Phase:  In Service - Jul 2023

Functionality Status:  Functional

Last Checkup: 02/22/2024

Project Features


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Community Profile

The 60 people in the community of Malokoh can only rely on the local swamp to meet their water needs, which makes it nearly impossible to collect sufficient water for drinking, prayers, income-generating projects, and domestic tasks.

The swamp is far away, and it takes too much time to make one trip, let alone the several needed for each household daily.

"It is difficult for me to fetch enough water for domestic purposes, especially when I am about to process palm kernel and even to bathe or hold ablution for prayers. I really feel it," said 55-year-old farmer Nandawah Bangura, shown below at the swamp.

"I cannot get access to clean water. The water source we use to fetch [from] is not pure, [but] we have no option but to drink from it," continued Nandawah. "After fetching water to drink, I allow the water to settle for [a] few minutes before using it to drink and cook. That also delays my cooking time."

After letting the water settle, it may look cleaner, but Nandawah knows it doesn't solve the contamination issues. "This causes [us] to be prone to waterborne diseases such as diarrhea, typhoid, and dysentery," she said.

"I believe that the water I use to drink is not safe and pure to drink," said 12-year-old Masiray Y. when describing the swamp water.

As an all-Muslim community, the people are also very dedicated to their local mosque, Ahmadiyya Mosque. In Islam, mosque attendees perform five prayers a day and are also called on to perform ablutions each time, where they wash their hands and faces with water. However, this is no easy feat with the area's ongoing water crisis. Community members must ferry water from the swamp constantly for themselves as well as any other visitors to the mosque.

"[Ahmadiyya] is the only mosque in the community [where] they must do their prayers," said field officer Moses. "The community is purely a Muslim community. They always do their five daily prayers. Some of them will leave the work they're doing just to do their five daily prayers."

"When it comes to fetching water, I feel annoyed because I think the distance to fetch water is [too] far away from the community," said Masiray. "Also, it is hard to make a single trip because the road the water source is slippery with potholes. When it rains, the water source surroundings [become] over-flooded, which is [risky] for me to fetch water. I [have] a difficult situation because of the water challenge in my community."

With a water point of their own, the community members in Malokoh will hopefully have the freedom to collect water that they know is safe. The endless burden of fetching water for the mosque will vanish as we plan to build the community a well on the mosque grounds, which is centrally located so everyone can carry out their everyday tasks and attend to their spiritual needs without stress.

What We Can Do:

New Well

Where we will be drilling is centrally located and will relieve many people of the long journey to fetch water and the challenge of accessing clean water.

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.

By drilling this borehole, Lokoya and the surrounding 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 hands-free 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 restrooms 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.

Project Updates


July, 2023: Lokoya Community Borehole Well Completed!

We are excited to share that there is now a safe, reliable borehole well in the Lokoya Community. As a result, community members no longer rely on unsafe water to meet their daily needs. We also conducted hygiene and sanitation training, which focused on healthy practices such as handwashing and using latrines.

Celebrating the well.

"Drinking safe water contributes to get[ting] sound health. Before I was drinking contaminated water and I [could] only fetch water from the stream, which is not safe to drink, so when I [would] drink such water, I experience[d] waterborne illnesses. But with the help of this water point in my community, now I will drink safe water, and this has contributed to sound health. I say plenty [of] thanks to the donors and workers," shared Farmer Nandawa Bangura, 41.

"Before, I usually fetch[ed] water from the stream to drink at home, and when I [would] drink this water, I experience[d] diseases, such as diarrhea. When I bathed with such water, I [would] feel itching on the skin, and this situation caused me not to get sound health. Today, I’m happy because I have access to safe drinking water, and it is provided by you. Drinking from this well will contribute to my good health," 15-year-old Aminata K. shared.

Aminata at the well.

"I want to say thanks for providing [this] new well in my community. I’m happy today because I have access to safe water, and it is not located far away from my house. Now I will complete my domestic work on time and go to school early," she continued.

We held a dedication ceremony to officially hand over the well to the community members. Several local dignitaries attended the ceremony, including representatives Mr. Abu Bakarr Bangura from the Port Loko District Council, Osman Fofanah from the Ministry of Water Resources, and Councilor Umaro Bai Kallay. Each official gave a short speech thanking everyone who contributed to this water project and reminding everyone to take good care of it. Then, Aminata and Nandawa made statements on their community's behalf. The ceremony concluded with celebration, singing, and dancing.

New Well

The drill team arrived the day before beginning work. They set up camp and unpacked all their tools and supplies to prepare for drilling the next day. The community provided space for the team to store their belongings and meals for the duration of their stay. The following day, work began.

Our team dug two pits next to the drill rig, one for the drill’s water supply and another for what the drill pulls out of the borehole. In some cases, we order a private supplier to deliver the water for drilling since water access is already challenging.

Drilling begins.

Day one of drilling began as the team mixed water with bentonite, an absorbent clay, in the two dug pits. Next, the team fixed a four-inch carbide-tipped bit to the five-foot-long drill stem. They started the mud pump to supply water to the drill rig so that drilling could begin!

After putting each five-foot length of drill stem into the hole, the team took material samples. We labeled the bags to review them later and determine the aquifer locations.

On the second day of drilling, the team expanded the hole and cleared it of mud. After reaching a total depth of 23 meters (75 Feet), the team forcefully pumped clean water into the well to remove any dirt and debris from the drilling process. We then protected the screened pipe by adding a filter pack. The team hoisted the temporary drilling casing to fortify the pipes with cement.

Next, we bailed the well by hand for three days before conducting a yield test to verify the water quantity. This well has a static water level of seven meters. With these excellent results, we installed a stainless steel pump. Water quality test results showed that this was clean water fit for drinking!

Installing the pump.

New Knowledge

Before conducting any hygiene training, we called and visited the local water user committee to understand the community’s challenges and lack of sanitation facilities. We shared the findings from our discussions with the committee members to help them make the necessary adjustments before the training began. For example, we identified households without handwashing stations or ones that may need to repair their latrines. With this information, community members worked together to improve hygiene and sanitation at home.

After this preparatory period, we scheduled a time when members from each household using the water point could attend a three-day hygiene and sanitation training. We then dispatched our teams to the agreed-upon location to hold the meeting. The training was held beneath the shade of some mango trees.

Training topics covered included handwashing and tippy taps, good and bad hygiene habits, teen pregnancy, worms and parasites, proper dental hygiene, menstrual hygiene, proper care of the well's pump, keeping the water clean, the cost recovery system, the importance of using dish racks and clotheslines, the importance of toilets, keeping latrines clean, balanced diets, the diarrhea doll, and disease transmission and prevention (including COVID-19, Ebola, Hepatitis, HIV and AIDS).

One of the favorite topics was dental hygiene. There was a lively discussion amongst the participants. They shared different methods or ideas regarding dental hygiene that they had seen in their community. One participant shared how she didn't brush her gums, in order to keep them from getting red. Another community member shared they used ashes and salt to brush their teeth.

Dental hygiene training.

Another favored topic was handwashing. Lokoya Community had learned how to construct tippy taps from the neighboring village but had not learned about the importance of handwashing. They were fascinated to learn how crucial it was to wash their hands after using a latrine, or before they ate.

Handwashing demonstration.

Conclusion

This project required a substantial collaboration between our staff, our in-country teams, and the community members. When an issue arises concerning the well, community members are equipped with the necessary skills to rectify the problem and ensure the water point works appropriately. However, if the issue is beyond their capabilities, they can contact their local field officers to assist them.

Also, we will continue to offer them unmatchable support as a part of our monitoring and maintenance program. We walk with each community, problem-solving together when they face challenges with functionality, seasonality, or water quality. Together, all these components help us strive for enduring access to reliable, clean, and safe water for this community.

With your contribution, one more piece has been added to a large puzzle of water projects. In Kenya, Uganda, and Sierra Leone, we’re working toward complete coverage. That means reliable, maintained water sources within a 30-minute round trip for each community, household, school, and health center. With this in mind, search through our upcoming projects to see which community you can help next!

Thank you for making all of this possible!

Celebrating.




May, 2023: Lokoya Community New Well Underway!

The lack of adequate water in Lokoya Community costs people time, energy, and health every single day. Clean water scarcity contributes to community instability and diminishes individuals’ personal progress.

But thanks to your recent generosity, things will soon improve here. We are now working to install a reliable water point and improve hygiene standards. We look forward to sharing inspiring news in the near future!




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!


Contributors

PayPal Giving Fund
RxBenefits
Microsoft Matching Gifts Program
Facebook Donations
The Foley and Fredendall Charitable Fund
Lenovo
Liberty Mutual Group, Inc
USAA
Cardinal Health
41 individual donor(s)