Rehabilitation Project
This project was implemented by another partner, but is now monitored and maintained by The Water Project together with Mariatu's Hope.
Initial reporting...
The initial site selection and community engagement phases of the St. Joseph Jr. & Sr. Secondary School water project are now complete.
The team has noted that the water level in the well to be rehabilitated is very low. This will require additional and time consuming deepening of the well. Recent severe droughts in the area have caused most of the wells we are encountering to require this deepening. It has caused very long delays, though we're glad that progress is still being made.
This very large project includes a full well rehab and construction of new latrines. The team will also spend a great deal of time training students and community leaders about proper hygiene.
Upon completion of the project, our implementing partner reported...
A Sierra Leone team member commented, "This is a really great school. They have unity here. The school has strict rules and the students respect authority. They have a vocational school here as well. They teach hand work, soap making, weaving cloth, making coal cooking stoves, batik and gara tie dying. The students are then prepared to be good in the society. The teachers were very cooperative with the hygiene training. When the first project washed out, we were pretty disappointed, but learned that we needed to watch for where the water runs off during the rains better."
When the team arrived, community members were using a protected hand dug well to meet all of their water needs and because of this, families were suffering from dysentery, typhoid and malaria. During the team's stay, community members assisted the team by providing security over the water project during the night. The community is also responsible for collecting a well maintenance fee of $0.02 per liter of water. Most community members earn a living by petty trading, working odd skilled jobs for daily wages, working for the government and teaching. Before leaving the community, the team provided community member and school principal John Otto Sesay, with a contact number in case their well were to fall into disrepair, become subject to vandalism or theft.
The Sierra Leone team had an opportunity to meet with thirteen year old community member and student, Makalay Kargbo, who stated, "We had to share toilets with the other school and many students used the bush. The new toilets are fine. There is a place to wash our hands which the other toilets don't have. I like that I can wash my hands for good hygiene."
During the hygiene education, the Sierra Leone team addresses: Hand washing, how to properly transport and store water, disease transmission, how to take proper care of the pump and how to keep the water clean, Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS), Latrine perception, good and bad hygiene behavior and the three legged stool. It is hoped that after hygiene education unhealthy practices in the community will subside – essentially allowing for a healthier community with access to clean, safe drinking water.
