Kankaylay Islamic Primary School

Project Status

Project Type: Borehole Well and Hand Pump

Regional Program: Port Loko, Sierra Leone WaSH Program

Impact: 373 Served

Project Phase: In Service - Mar 2025

Functionality Status: Functional

Project Features

Click icons to learn about each feature.

The 373 students and staff of Kankaylay Islamic Primary School struggle to access sufficient water. The community well they collect water from is often overcrowded or runs dry, and the road they must cross to get there is perilous.

Field Officer Alie Kamara said, "Most times, the water source is overcrowded by community women, and that delays school children from fetching water in the morning. Also, crossing Port Loko Road is a risk for school children to be hit by vehicles [or] motorbikes."

Teacher Isata Jolloh worries for her students daily.

"The problem of water has been affecting me, as a teacher and the school children. We only access water across the Port Loko Road. The school children must cross the road to fetch water, and this may expose them to being hurt by vehicle or motorbike," said 33-year-old Isata, seen below teaching.

"Another challenge we face in our school is the school feeding program. Every day, our school children fetch water for the preparation of food. This will be delayed. Also, we need enough water to drink—the lack of enough water delays school children and staff not eating on time. We are unable to use the school toilet due to not enough water. For instance, if a staff wants to use the toilet, they always go to the nearby houses. This will cause us, the teachers, [to] not complete lessons," she continued.

Children are vocal regarding their experience in the water crisis as well.

Ibrahim, 10, seen below, said, "We have a latrine in our school, but there is no water well. So, I walk a long distance to access water across the road where vehicles pass every day. Sometimes, the water I have already fetched is not enough to serve our class. Even using the latrine is a problem because there is not enough water. When I want to use the latrine, I must get permission from my class teacher and then go to my house. This will cause me to miss out on lessons, and I will not be able to complete these lessons."

"The shortage of water from this water source has led the school not to practice better hygiene and sanitation. Because of the distance to fetch water, this causes pupils to miss their first period of teaching daily," continued Field Officer Alie Kamara.

Without access to safe, clean water, the students and staff cannot perform essential hygiene tasks, such as cleaning the latrines. This increases their risk of illness, which takes children out of the classroom even more, putting them further behind in their education.

Installing the well will enable teachers like Isata to no longer worry about their students' safety or when food can be prepared. Using the latrines on campus will allow children like Ibrahim to save time. This will eliminate the need for students to travel home during the school day, allowing them more time to focus on their studies and personal hygiene.

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

March, 2025: Kankaylay Islamic Primary School Well Complete!

We are excited to share that your donation provided a safe, reliable well at Kankaylay Islamic Primary School. As a result, students and teachers 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.

Teacher Morray Bangura, 43, said, "This new water well will help the pupils to be more focused in class. No one will leave the classroom to fetch water from the community well, which is [a] distance away from here. The well in the school grounds will make life easier for them. The pupils will have enough time to copy their notes and even brainstorm in class. All this will aid in their performance."

Teacher Morray Bangura.

Students are just as exuberant about the new well!

13-year-old Ibrahim has long coped with his school's water crisis. But now, with new hope, he is excited for the future!

Ibrahim at the new well.

"It will improve things for me because I will not suffer to fetch water. Imagine the pain it takes for me to leave the school grounds and go in search of water. It was difficult for me to do that, especially when I must make multiple trips to the water well, which is far away from the school. Today, with this new water well, all this suffering will be over. I will no longer suffer to fetch water when it [is] my turn to fill the drinking buckets in class. I will no longer worry [about going] far to fetch water, especially when I want to use the latrine. Since the well is now on the school grounds, it will be easier for me to do so," he said.

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

Clean Water Restored

The school provided space for the team to store their belongings and meals for the duration of their stay. The following day, the work began!

First, we raised the tripod, the structure we use to hold and maneuver each drilling tool. Next, we measured the hand-dug well's original depth and socketed the pipes to install a casing.

Finally, we started to drill! We reached a final depth of 19 meters with water at 12 meters. The team installed the cylinder as far below the water table as possible so that the community has reliable access throughout the year.

With drilling complete, we installed screening and a filter pack to keep out debris when the water is pumped.

Next, we bailed the well and flushed it, clearing any debris generated by the drilling process. Lastly, 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 new cement platform, walls, and drainage system around the well to seal it off 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.

Installing the handpump.

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

School Education

First, our hygiene team trained the teachers, who then participated in training the student body with us.

We taught 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.

Students line up to wash their hands at their newly implemented tippy tap.

"They were always punctual and active during the training. They made valuable contributions and asked questions for them to increase their knowledge. All forms of distractions were avoided during the training," shared Field Officer Julius Sesay.

Teacher Morray Bangura teaches students about dental hygiene.

Morray Bangura, previously quoted, shared the impact the training made on him personally. "This training has helped me to get a deeper understanding about the causes of diseases and ways in which good hygiene plays a role in promoting our health. The things I have learned from here will not depart from me, especially when I put them into practice in my school and at home."

Thank you for making all of this possible!

February, 2025: Exciting Progress at Kankaylay Islamic Primary School, Thanks to You

We’re thrilled to share that, thanks to your generous support, significant change is coming for the entire Kankaylay Islamic Primary School. 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 school 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 at Kankaylay Islamic Primary School!

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!