Project Status



Project Type:  Borehole Well and Hand Pump

Regional Program: Port Loko, Sierra Leone WaSH Program

Impact: 200 Served

Project Phase:  In Service - Sep 2016

Functionality Status:  Functional

Last Checkup: 01/30/2024

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

Alimamy Amara Road runs through Lungitown in Sierra Leone. Though Lungitown has a huge population, we consider the population of the immediate village to be about 200 people from 51 different households.

A normal day starts with an early morning wakeup call for prayers. The majority of people in this area are practicing Muslims. People get up at 4am to ensure there is ample time for the long walk to the swamp to tend their gardens. These tens of miles of marshy swampland are full of the most beautiful assortment of vegetables. The main source of livelihood for this community is agriculture. Vegetables such as okra, tomatoes, corn, garden eggs, cucumbers, sweet potatoes and onions is only naming a few of the crops commonly grown here! The plantations have to be watered very early in the morning before the sun, and late in the evening after the sun has gone down to prevent the veggies from withering during the day's hot African sun. By ten in the morning, these local farmers and gardeners have moved on to weeding. It is a full-time job, with birds often coming to eat the vegetables; children and women normally spend the rest of their day driving the birds away with their weapon of choice: a slingshot. Children make loud noises and sing to scare the birds. At nightfall, everyone returns home with a bucket of water balanced on their head with enough water for the next morning.

Water Situation

Women and children fetch this water from the swamp that sits nearby and irrigates their crops. They must take off their shoes before wading into the water ankle-deep, dunking whatever smaller container they have into the marsh's water. This water is poured into a larger jerrycan with a lid which the woman or child will tote all the way back home. The walk back home to the village is about one kilometer, but it doesn't seem to phase the women and children. They travel in groups back and forth to the swamp, entertaining themselves with conversation or singing.

When the water arrives home, it is poured into larger barrels and left to settle before drinking. There are certain, less busy times of the day that locals feel water is clean enough to be drunk directly from the swamp. There's no doubt that the water is contaminated nonetheless. The water flows extremely slowly, and other women do their laundry just a few feet away.

Sanitation Situation

Over half of households have some form of pit latrine. A typical latrine is walled in by sticks with a tarp wrapped around them. Many of these are left open, and attract flies and wild animals that look for food. Open defecation was also observed to be an issue in this area. When we visited, community members could give us a tour of all the popular places the people without latrines would relieve themselves.

Under 25% of households have a hand-washing station, and no more than half have helpful tools like dish racks and clotheslines to dry their things. Since this is an agricultural community, trash is never wasted. Fish remains, leftover fruit and vegetable peels are consolidated and allowed to rot so they can use it as compost. All other trash is thrown in a garbage pit.

We met the oldest member of this community during our visit, an old gardener by the name of Kemoh Saccoh. It seems that every member swings by his home to say hello at least once a day. Kemoh is proud of his good health! He boasts that all his teeth are still intact, that he's never smoked, and eats his vegetables. He worries what will become of his children and grandchildren after he passes. "They are all dying before me. I guess I have been blessed or am I cursed? I have buried a lot of my children and other loved ones. The nearest clinic is miles away."

Plans: Hygiene and Sanitation Training and Hand-Washing Stations

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 household will have their own hand-washing station.

Plans: New Borehole

The well will be located at #8 Alimamy Amara Road. This address is not in the center of the community, but it is the safest distance away from any latrines. The other locations surveyed were too close to latrines and garbage pits. In order to guarantee safe water, a small percent of the community is willing to make an extra effort and walk the extra distance to fetch water from the well.

Project Updates


December, 2017: A Year Later: #8 Alimamy Amara Road

A year ago, generous donors helped build a new well for the community surrounding #8 Alimamy Amara Road in Sierra Leone. Because of these gifts and our monthly donors, partners can 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 our 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: #8 Alimamy Amara Road

September, 2017

“Now we are not suffering or striving for water any more. We are fetching pure and clean water even going to school without being late because of this water project.”

Keeping The Water Promise

There's an incredible community of monthly donors who have come alongside you in supporting clean water in #8 Alimamy Amara Road New Well Project.

This giving community supports ongoing sustainability programs that help #8 Alimamy Amara 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 for the community surrounding #8 Alimamy Amara Road in Sierra Leone. Because of these gifts and our monthly donors, partners can 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 our partner, Nanah Mansaray, with you.

Visiting this community, you can see how life has improved over the past years because the new water project has provided safe drinking water and hygiene and sanitation training introduced to the people and their community.

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Community member Fatima Saccoh says “now we are not suffering or striving for water any more. We are fetching pure and clean water even going to school without being late because of this water project.”  Before the new well, the community gathered unsafe water from other communities or streams nearby. They would walk far, up and down hills. “Thanks to this project,” says Fatima, “we now use clean and pure to drink and also for sanitary issues. We have some challenges with many other people from other communities coming here to fetch water or use our facilities and toilets, like students who are passing by, but they are using these facilities in the normal way as they have been trained by our staff.”

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12-year-old student Aminata Kargbo says the new water project has changed her life as now she gets her housework done on time and goes to school on time because the pump is very close to her. They use the water not only for drinking but for the domestic work like cooking, cleaning and bathing as well. “Now I can get up and do my work on time without going to other communities or streams to fetch water which gives the cause to be late for school usually,” says Aminata. “Now, we have access to clean and fresh water in our community. So because of this project it has helped me to improve completely in my community and school last year.”

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The pump is working effectively and they have a good drainage system, but people also need to mobilize themselves to give education time to time on how to continue to use these facilities in their community. We will continue to encourage the Water User Committee to sensitize community members to abide by the rules and work on behavioral change. Our staff will continue to do proper and effective monitoring  of the pump, to purify the water and handle it with care.

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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 #8 Alimamy Amara 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 #8 Alimamy Amara 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

Joonbug Logistics Inc.
Sunshine Couriers Inc.
The Snider Wedding Project
2 individual donor(s)