Komrabai Community 9

Project Status

Project Type: Borehole Well and Hand Pump

Regional Program: Port Loko, Sierra Leone WaSH Program

Impact: 167 Served

Project Phase: In Service - Apr 2025

Functionality Status: Functional

Project Features

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The 167 people of the Komrabai Community struggle to access sufficient water. They rely on water from a distant swamp, which makes them ill. Their only other option for water is to collect rainwater during the short rainy season.

Field Officer Phillip James Allieu said, "The community is fetching water from the swamp well. The water from the swamp is not pure because of the contaminants around it. There is not enough water to use in every household in the community during the dry season. The only means of fetching enough water is rainwater during the rainy season. All the sources of water in this community are not safe. There is a great need for a sustainable water source in this community."

"The dry season (March-May) is a moment of acute water shortage in this community. The community desperately [goes] in search of water for their daily consumption. They search the swamp pits to fetch water. This leads them to drink contaminated water and get diarrhea and stomach pain," continued Phillip.

However, health issues aren't the only consequence of their water crisis. Water collection is time-consuming and takes away from essential, life-improving tasks such as school or work.

27-year-old trader Fatmata Kamara (shown below) shared, "I can only fetch water from the swamp. I produce and sell palm oil to customers. Palm oil processing is not easy; the process needs enough water that [I] could not easily get from the swamp well because of the distance. It is not easy to fetch water from the swamp because of the hilly road and the distance. More trips [for] water is causing [me] fatigue that [does] not permit me to finish my daily tasks."

"The swamp water is not clean, but it is the available water source that I can fetch every day. I fetch the swamp water and boil it before drinking. If it is [still] not clean, I filter it before drinking. The water shortage in my house is causing more workload on me. Life is difficult in this community without enough water. I am always engaged in doing domestic work, fetching water, and trading. I have no time to rest until late at night when I go to sleep," she continued.

Sadly, 15-year-old Abibatu B., shown below at the swamp collecting water, is used to how challenging life is for her and others in her community.

She said, "The most challenging task I do every day is fetch water. It is not easy to fetch enough water from the swamp because the road is bad, and the distance is far from my house. I find it hard to do more than three trips of water from the swamp to my house. The quantity I fetch is not enough to serve the activities at my house. I cannot easily get the amount of water that I need."

"It is hard to fetch clean drinking water, but we are drinking it. I can only get enough clean water from the rain. My daily commitments to fetching water and completing other domestic activities are affecting my attention [at] school. I do not have enough time to do my home reading. This is affecting me in [my] examinations," she added.

Without access to water that is close to home and safe to consume, the members of this community won't be able to do the essential tasks they need to, leaving them stuck in an endless cycle of exhaustion and poverty.

Installing a well in the community will enable people like Fatmata to find rest and children like Abibatu to spend more time studying in hopes of improving their futures.

The Proposed Solution, Determined Together...

At The Water Project, everyone has a part in conversations and solutions. We operate in transparency, believing it benefits everyone. We expect reliability from one another as well as our water solutions. Everyone involved makes this possible through hard work and dedication.

In a joint discovery process, community members determine their most advantageous water solution alongside our technical experts. Read more specifics about this solution on the What We're Building tab of this project page. Then, community members lend their support by collecting needed construction materials (sometimes for months ahead of time!), providing labor alongside our artisans, sheltering and feeding the builders, and supplying additional resources.

Water Access for Everyone

This water project is one piece in a large puzzle. In Kenya, Sierra Leone, and Uganda, we're working toward complete coverage of reliable, maintained water sources that guarantee public access now and in the future within a 30-minute round trip for each community, household, school, and health center. One day, we hope to report that this has been achieved!

Training on Health, Hygiene & More

With the community's input, we've identified topics where training will increase positive health outcomes at personal, household, and community levels. We'll coordinate with them to find the best training date. Some examples of what we train communities on are:

Improved hygiene, health, and sanitation habits
Safe water handling, storage & treatment
Disease prevention and proper handwashing
Income-generation
Community leadership, governance, & election of a water committee
Operation and maintenance of the water point

Project Updates

April, 2025: Komrabai Community Well Complete!

We are excited to share that your donation provided a safe, reliable well at Komrabai Community. As a result, community members no longer rely on unsafe water to meet their daily needs. We conducted hygiene and sanitation training, which focused on healthy practices such as handwashing and using latrines.

"This new waterpoint was what I was praying for. I wanted to live in a community where I can have access to [a] safe and reliable water source for my domestic use. This dream has become a reality. Now, I will spend less time cooking due to the availability of water. I will have more time to pray, enough time to rest and I will now concentrate more on my petty trading," shared Fatmata Kamara, a local businesswoman.

Fatmata Kamara at the new well.

Students are just as excited!

"The availability of water will make it easier for me to prepare earlier for school. I will be able to wash the dirty dishes, sweep the house, and then go to school on time. This will prevent me from missing classes. The more I am punctual in school, the more I will be able to pay attention and study my notes. Even when I get home, I will no longer worry about going to the swamp to fetch water to launder my school uniforms. This will give me more time to study my notes and do my assignments before I go to bed. All this will help me to do well during exams in school," said 17-year-old Abibatu.

Abibatu at the new well.

After construction was complete, we held a dedication ceremony to officially give responsibility for the well to the water users. The ceremony concluded with celebration, singing, and dancing.

New Well

The community provided space for the drill team to store their belongings and meals for the duration of their stay. We were ready to begin drilling!

Drilling begins!

We drilled until we reached a final depth of 22 meters. The team did a soil test, bailed the well, and flushed it, clearing any debris generated by the drilling process. This well has a static water level of 8 meters. Finally, we tested the water flow to ensure the well would provide clean water with minimal effort at the pump.

As the project neared completion, we built a cement platform, walls, and drainage system around the well to seal it from surface-level contaminants. The drainage system helps to redirect spilled water to help avoid standing water at the well, which is unhygienic and a breeding ground for disease-carrying mosquitoes.

Constructing the well pad.

Finally, we installed the pump and conducted a water quality test. The results showed that water was fit for drinking!

Field Officer Julius Sesay described the community's excitement. "They were extremely happy to gain access to the waterpoint, mostly the children. They saw it as an opportunity to fetch water from this well. Since this has never happened in this community, no wonder the children and even the adults rushed inside the well just to fetch water from it. They went as far as to drink from the well, and the taste of the water was pleasant. They have never drunk such water before in this community."

Community Education

We also invited a nurse from the local clinic to help explain some topics and spread awareness about Sierra Leone's free vaccinations for children under five. Nurse Georgiana Conteh was instrumental in reinforcing each lesson.

We scheduled a time when members from each household using the waterpoint could attend a three-day hygiene and sanitation training and dispatched our teams to hold the meeting.

We taught the participants about proper handwashing, personal and menstrual hygiene, and healthy habits such as using latrines and maintaining a balanced diet. We discussed how disease transmission and water hygiene are crucial to community health. We emphasized the importance of maintaining and caring for the well pump and the cost recovery system.

One particular topic that sparked conversation amongst the group was proper water storage. Facilitator Julius said, "During this lesson, the participants made mention of the water storage in their houses. This was brought up when the facilitator emphasized the reasons for keeping the water point clean. One of the WUC (Water User Committee) members asked a question that led to a discussion among the community members. "What if the water point is clean and the water is safe to drink? Don’t we think it will be good to store it properly?" This question made most of the participants understand the rationale for the safe water chain. They saw that water must be free from contamination right from the well to the storage containers at their houses. They all agreed during the discussion that water must be kept in a clean bucket and stored in the correct place for it not to be contaminated."

Fatmata Kamara participating in training.

Ms. Kamara, previously quoted, said of her experience in the training sessions, "This training has helped me to improve on cleanliness and how to maintain a clean environment. Before this time, I had limited ideas on hygiene, but since I witnessed this training, I have learned new ideas that I will teach some of my friends who are living in other communities."

Thank you for making all of this possible!

February, 2025: Exciting Progress in Komrabai Community, Thanks to You!

We’re thrilled to share that, thanks to your generous support, significant change is coming for Fatmata and the entire Komrabai Community. Construction has begun on the well project, bringing them one step closer to having clean, reliable water.

But that's not all—during construction, we’re also providing vital health training. These sessions equip the community with essential hygiene practices, ensuring that the benefits of clean water extend to lasting health improvements.

We’re so grateful for your role in making this possible. Stay tuned for more updates—soon, we’ll be celebrating the arrival of safe water in Komrabai Community!

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!