Project Status



Project Type:  Borehole Well and Hand Pump

Regional Program: Port Loko, Sierra Leone WaSH Program

Impact: 500 Served

Project Phase:  In Service - Jul 2016

Functionality Status:  Functional

Last Checkup: 07/26/2024

Project Features


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Community Profile

Ebola’s Impact

Ebola has been a tragic reality for the people of Sierra Leone over the last two years. Though considered stable at the moment, the country is still very cautious.

Our teams have remained safe and are on the front lines of Ebola prevention through this water, hygiene and sanitation program.  Your support acknowledges and celebrates their selfless work and bravery.

The entire team continues to express their gratitude for your support of communities in Sierra Leone, and we can’t wait to celebrate safe water together!

Please enjoy the following report comes straight from the field, edited for clarity and readability:

Welcome to the Community

Dumbuya Road runs through Yatiya Community, home to 674 people from 51 different households. (Editor’s Note: While this many people may have access on any given day, realistically a single water source can only support a population of 350-500 people. This site would make a great location for a second project. To learn more, click here.) It is found sitting upon a beach overlooking the magnificent Atlantic Ocean. The people in this community are deprived of many things, but are always walking around with smiles on their faces. We felt a keen sense of belonging after their warm greetings. Mangos, cucumbers and onions were offered for our enjoyment. These people are predominately from the Susu tribe, who are masters of the sea.

A normal day's beginning syncs with the ocean's tide, since a majority of the community depends on fishing for their daily bread. Fishermen are awake at all hours of the night. When the time is right for fishing, they will go regardless of the hour. Competition between fishermen often results in fights. Whenever a fisherman casts his net first in an area, all the other boats behind him get the leftovers. The fisherman are men and boys ages 10 to 50. They eat, sleep and dream fish.

This community also exhibits great agricultural knowhow, with a large percentage of the area's onions, cucumbers and peppers planted in this community. The community is mostly illiterate.

Prayer in this community is a rarity; there are countless numbers of mosques, but rarely do people go.

Water Situation

Locals fetch their water from an unprotected spring. A small bowl is used to scoop water into larger five-gallon buckets. When scooping, women and children must take care not to disturb the dirt at the bottom. When the bucket is full, it is covered and transported back home. The gathered water is then separated into containers according to use: one for drinking and the other container for domestic chores. The drinking container is kept up off the ground on a table or stool, and is covered throughout the day. However, an entire family will use only one cup for drinking, found sitting atop the lid. When staff asked for a drink of water at one of the households, the mother took the cup, wiped the lip of it with a cloth, and handed it over! We weren't daring enough to drink, but used the water to wash up instead.

Water in this open source is undoubtedly contaminated. The stream is located just downhill from a cemetery, and rain washes dirt and debris into the water. Our staff recounts that this could be the worst water source they have ever visited, and would prefer to drink the milky-white water found in other communities rather than this!

Sanitation Situation

No more than half of these homes have bathing rooms in which people can bathe or brush teeth. A little more than half of households have a pit latrine. They are latrines typical to impoverished areas, with palm leaves weaved together to make walls. A few feet inland on the beach, and you can find a pile of rubbish and feces, since most seaside communities use the beach as a toilet. Staff immediately hit it off with a twenty-year-old fisherman by the name of Mohamed Turay. During our conversation, nature called! I had only two choices: to use the beach that is within view of hundreds of people, or a latrine found back in town, ten minutes away. Of course I opted for the latrine back in town!

The young fisherman seems to be near the end of his career. Hardship and suffering are written all over his face. Even his skin reflects the consequences of dirty water and bad hygiene, with its blotches and discoloration. He looks forward to a new well with great hope. "Thank God! Things are finally turning around! It is time we learn how to read to follow the God of Mariatu's Hope."

Plans: Hygiene and Sanitation Training

Community members will be trained for three days in hygiene and sanitation. The facilitator will use the PHAST (Participatory Hygiene and Sanitation Training) method to teach participants how to make their own hand-washing stations, wash hands, construct proper latrines, and many other topics. By the end of training, each households should have their own hand-washing station.

Plans: New Borehole

The community went through the application process. On receipt of their application, we visited to assess the community's needs. To decide where to locate the well, we measured distance to ensure the location is far from latrines. Upon confirmation from the Ministry of Water Resources, we based our GPS coordinates on the projected location of this well: #5 Dumbuya Road.

The community will play a vital role in the implementaion of management and maintenance of this well. The community drafted a constitution for well usage. A gender-balanced water user committee was formed, voted upon and selected by the greater community.

Project Updates


November, 2017: A Year Later: #5 Dumbuya Road

A year ago, generous donors helped build a new well and latrines for the community surrounding #5 Dumbuya Road in Sierra Leone. Because of these gifts and our monthly donors, partners are able to visit project sites throughout the year, strengthening relationships with communities and evaluating the actual water project. These consistent visits allow us to learn vital lessons and hear amazing stories – we’re excited to share this one from partner Nanah Mansaray with you.




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!


A Year Later: #5 Dumbuya Road

September, 2017

Now, after the completion of this water project, our children and young girls are not suffering any more from this difficulty. This is a great change which is positive in our community.

Keeping The Water Promise

There's an incredible community of monthly donors who have come alongside you in supporting clean water in #5 Dumbuya Road New Well Project.

This giving community supports ongoing sustainability programs that help #5 Dumbuya Road New Well Project maintain access to safe, reliable water. Together, they keep The Water Promise.

We’re confident you'll love joining this world-changing group committed to sustainability!

A year ago, generous donors helped build a new well and latrines for the community surrounding #5 Dumbuya Road in Sierra Leone. Because of these gifts and our monthly donors, partners are able to visit project sites throughout the year, strengthening relationships with communities and evaluating the actual water project. These consistent visits allow us to learn vital lessons and hear amazing stories – we’re excited to share this one from partner Nanah Mansaray with you.

 

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This water project has been beneficial and is improving people’s life in their community because they are now using good and pure water for their daily activities. The community now uses good pit latrine facilities instead of going to the bush, they have clothes lines, rubbish pits, etc. This change was because of the hygienic training that was conducted and introduced to them in their community by the WaSH staff.

Chairlady M'balia Sillah says, “The biggest changes from this water project is we don’t have to buy water from other communities or send our children and young girls to go to far away streams. Now, after the completion of this water project, our children and young girls are not suffering any more from this difficulty. This is a great change which is positive in our community."

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"Our people in this community are using both the water project facility and also using the sanitary facilities been introduced from the staff during education training. There is vast improvement from the people in this community in using such facility. Though there are no difficult continued challenges, we still need to advise the community people time to time about their hygienic and sanitary practices."

12-year-old Alhajie Turay says that his life has changed drastically since the water project was implemented last year. "Before, my brothers, sisters and friends use to go to school late at times because we fetch water from other communities, the stream or, sometimes our parents buy from traders in bundles. Due to these reasons, I usually was late for school, but after the water project, I can now wake up on time, do my studies in the morning, do my domestic work, eat and dress for school without being late."

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The pump is working properly and they are using the hygienic and sanitary practices properly in their community. The field staff will continue to monitor the operation on proper functioning of the pump and other facilities such as chlorinating the pump and talk to the members of the committee to clean the pump daily and weekly.

The Water Project and our partners are committed to consistent monitoring of each water source. Our monitoring and evaluation program, made possible by monthly donors, allows us to visit communities up to 4 times a year. Read more about our program and how you can help.


Navigating through intense dry spells, performing preventative maintenance, conducting quality repairs when needed and continuing to assist community leaders to manage water points are all normal parts of keeping projects sustainable. The Water Promise community supports ongoing sustainability programs that help #5 Dumbuya Road New Well Project maintain access to safe, reliable water.

We’d love for you to join this world-changing group committed to sustainability.

The most impactful way to continue your support of #5 Dumbuya Road New Well Project – and hundreds of other places just like this – is by joining our community of monthly givers.

Your monthly giving will help provide clean water, every month... keeping The Water Promise.


Contributors

Project Sponsor - Yakima Foursquare Church