Project Status



Project Type:  Dug Well and Hand Pump

Regional Program: Port Loko, Sierra Leone WaSH Program

Impact: 312 Served

Project Phase:  In Service - Jul 2017

Functionality Status:  Functional

Last Checkup: 03/05/2024

Project Features


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Community Profile

Welcome to the Community

Mapeh Village is full of farmers who belong to the Susu Tribe. The village was given to the Susu by the Temne. The warring Temne Tribe used to fight off all invading tribes to control the vast lands. The Susu people normally depend on fishing, but in this part of the chiefdom there is no river to fish so they instead have turned their attention to farming.

They get up early in the morning to start the one mile walk to the farm. Children and parents gather pots and everything they will need for the day's work. Walking along the foot path that is three to four feet wide, the children sing with a stick at hand to scare away any snakes that might be along the roadside.

At night after an hard day's work, the community gathers around the elders of the village to tell stories. There are no televisions here, but there is a young man with a portable DVD player, and people gather around his house to watch. He gets constant gifts from the villagers to get the opportunity to sit at the front. This village has no access to electricity, so charging phones is an all day event. It takes a long walk or a motorcycle ride to the nearby village to charge their phones. In a village of more than three hundred, only two people have telephones.

Water Situation

There are two hand-dug wells in the village. One is monitored by us, and the other belongs to a joint venture between the government and a foreign organization. This other well is supposed to have a warranty, but the Kardia pump ends up sitting in disrepair for a long period of time.

The well we monitor is located at the entrance of the village. Children are not allowed to use the pump, which is a rule that has limited the amount of repairs we've had to make.

Both of these wells stop working every dry season for anywhere from two to six months, causing the community to depend on dirty surface water.

Retired farmer Pa Alimamy Suma said, "The worst time of the year for us is when the wells dry up and we are left with no choice but to drink swamp water." This poses great danger to all in the community. Children have to take a bushy path to the swamp, risking snake bites. At the swamp, water is muddy and filled with tadpoles and small fish. The children suffer so much during these dry seasons without the wells; malaria, diarrhea, typhoid, and rashes are common as stomachs bloat with illness.

Sanitation Situation

A handful of households still don't have a pit latrine of their own. These families instead share with their neighbor. The latrines we observed are made from palm leaves braided together into walls. But even though the majority has a pit, they still prefer to use the woods when nature calls; the latrines are left for guests and older people who can't make it to the woods.

There are no hand-washing stations here, but about half of homes have either a dish rack or clothesline.

Plans: Sanitation and Hygiene Training 

Training will last for three hours a day for three days. The facilitators have already assessed sanitation here and decided that hand-washing and using the latrine will be strongly emphasized. During our hand-washing sessions, community members will be taught how to make their own hand-washing station out of a plastic jerrycan, sticks, and rope. These are the best solution for rural areas, since all the materials are all easily replaceable. Though pit latrines in this community are well-built, we also require that every family have their own.

Training will also result in the formation of a water user committee that will take responsibility for their new well. The members will manage and maintain the pump to the best of their ability, and will call our office if they need a mechanic to make a repair.

Plans: Well Rehabilitation

The well marked for this overhaul needs major work to supply adequate, clean water to the community year round. The pump will be removed, and a man will be lowered inside with a hand auger. This hand auger will allow the team to drill several meters deeper to hit a new water table, which will ensure the well supplies water throughout the drier seasons. As the team drills, casing will be installed, transforming this hand-dug well into a pseudo-borehole. PVC piping will connect this lower system directly to the pump, a construction that we know will also improve the quality of water.

Once this plan is implemented, everyone within the community will have access to safe drinking water in both quality and quantity, even through the dry months.

Project Updates


September, 2018: A Year Later: Mapeh Community

A year ago, generous donors helped restore water to a well in Mapeh Community, Sierra Leone. The contributions of incredible monthly donors and others giving directly to The Water Promise allow teams to visit project sites throughout the year, strengthening relationships with communities and evaluating the water project over time. These consistent visits allow us to learn vital lessons and hear amazing stories. Read more...




Project Photos


Project Type

Hand-dug wells have been an important source of water throughout human history! Now, we have so many different types of water sources, but hand-dug wells still have their place. Hand dug wells are not as deep as borehole wells, and work best in areas where there is a ready supply of water just under the surface of the ground, such as next to a mature sand dam. Our artisans dig down through the layers of the ground and then line the hole with bricks, stone, or concrete, which prevent contamination and collapse. Then, back up at surface level, we install a well platform and a hand pump so people can draw up the water easily.


A Year Later: Mapeh Community

September, 2018

“As for me, since they dug this water well we have never gone to school late because we use to go to the swamp very early in the morning to fetch water…” -Nabie Conteh

Keeping The Water Promise

There's an incredible community of monthly donors who have come alongside you in supporting clean water in Mapeh Community.

This giving community supports ongoing sustainability programs that help Mapeh Community 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 restore water to a well in Mapeh Community, Sierra Leone. The contributions of incredible monthly donors and others giving directly to The Water Promise allow teams to visit project sites throughout the year, strengthening relationships with communities and evaluating the water project over time. These consistent visits allow us to learn vital lessons and hear amazing stories – we’re excited to share this one from Edward Amara with you.


There is still so much change going on in Mapeh thanks to the hygiene and sanitation training last year and follow-up visits since then. We spoke to an old woman who told us how she learned sicknesses are normally transferred from one person to another through the hands. She knows the consequences of having dirty hands and is bent on keeping hers clean. We walked around nine other households and they were all very clean.

Containers full of water are still present at households all over the community. These are used for handwashing.

We spoke with a farmer, Mr. Alusine Kamara, and a young boy named Nabie Conteh to talk about other changes they've seen over the past year.

"We now have pure water in the community. Also before, we suffered to get enough water for our domestic use. Moreover, our women used to go to the swamp to fetch water. Now, this suffering ended at the time this organization came in this community," shared Mr. Kamara.

Mr. Kamara and Nabie Conteh

Nabie Conteh is a 14-year-old student at St. Joseph Senior Secondary School. He told us about how having water has helped him in school.

"As for me, since they dug this water well we have never gone to school late because we use to go to the swamp very early in the morning to fetch water which would take us about one and half hours to get back and by so doing, we use to get to school late every day," Nabie shared.

Edward Kamara observed that households are much cleaner than they were a year ago before training.

He continued, "Our people in this community cooperated and worked together with the hygiene team. This is why we are not experiencing any other challenges, because we now clean our community and toilet every day."

Installation of the well is only one step along the journey toward sustainable access to clean water. The Water Project is committed to consistent monitoring of each water source. Our monitoring and evaluation program, made possible by donors like you, allows us to maintain our relationships with communities by visiting up to 4 times each year to ensure that the water points are safe and reliable.

This is just one of the many ways that we monitor projects and communicate with you. Additionally, you can always check the functionality status and our project map to see how all of our water points are performing, based on our consistent monitoring data.

One project is just a drop in the bucket towards ending the global water crisis, but the ripple effects of this project are truly astounding. This functional well in Mapeh Community is changing many lives.

This is not possible without the web of support and trust built between The Water Project, our local teams, the community, and you. We are excited to stay in touch with this community and support their journey with safe water.

Read more about The Water Promise 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 Mapeh Community 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 Mapeh Community – 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

4 individual donor(s)