October, 2018: A Year Later: Royema Community, 804 Main Motor Road

A year ago, your generous donation enabled us to restore water to Royema Community. The contributions of incredible monthly donors and others giving directly to The Water Promise allow our local 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...

September, 2017: Royema Community Project Complete

Royema Community, Sierra Leone now has a well that provides clean water throughout the year, thanks to your donation! Hundreds of people are no longer stranded without clean water during the dry months. Hygiene and sanitation training was also conducted, which focused on healthy practices such as washing hands and using latrines. This water and new knowledge give the community a great foothold in eliminating water and sanitation-related illness. Please enjoy this update detailing all of the work that was done in Royema Community, and be sure to check out the tons of new pictures!

Thank You for unlocking potential in this community. You made clean water a reality, and now you have a chance to make sure it keeps flowing. Join our team of monthly donors and help us, our caretakers, and our mechanics maintain this well and hundreds of other projects!

Project Result: New Knowledge

We started working with the community to plan hygiene and sanitation training as soon as we met them. We assessed their specific needs and worked to find the most convenient dates for the entire community. Mr. Mohamed, the chief's son, was our main contact. He and Mrs. Joko walked from door to door to invite participants, and the imam was encouraged to announce the training during morning and evening prayers.

Sessions were held at Mr. Foday's house under a big mango tree. We were encouraged by meeting 85 people waiting there! They were prepared with benches and empty containers (to make the hand-washing stations).

A young lady holds up the jerrycan she brought to use as a hand-washing station.

Some of the topics covered during training were as follows:

– How to wash hands, and how to build a hand-washing station from a jerrycan, string, sticks, and netting

– Good and bad hygiene practices

– Dish racks and how to build them

– Keeping animals under control

– Management and maintenance of the hand pump

There was also a demonstration where the trainer washed her dirty hands in front of the crowd. She used a bowl of clean water and after washing her hands, the clean water in the bowl turned brown. She showed the participants and asked them what they observed, and they answered saying that the color of the water had changed. The facilitator told them that our hands are always unclean, even though we may not take it into consideration. We are always vulnerable to germs, and need to keep clean by practicing good personal hygiene. This set us up for a strong transition into how to make hand-washing stations.

People were surprised about how often they should wash their hands. They asked if we were preparing them for their response to another outbreak like Ebola. According to them, hand-washing reminds them of the Ebola outbreak. We let them know that hand-washing is necessary at all times, as it is an excellent way to prevent health issues like diarrhea and cholera. It is not just for Ebola, but should be a habit for everybody at all times.

These ladies are having a blast making hand-washing stations for their families!

Diagrams portraying unhealthy practices such as walking barefoot, open defecation, outdoor urination, and eating with unwashed hands were all shown and discussed in groups. What behaviors make a community healthy, and what others are counterproductive?

Some of the images that encourage discussions about hygiene and sanitation behaviors.

During the final session, we asked participants to help us summarize and review everything taught. A woman named Isatu stood up and contributed by saying that she learned a lot, especially about hand-washing. Before the training, she didn't know she should wash her hands before making her family dinner. She never even thought of washing her hands after cleaning her baby's messy buttocks before continuing with cooking. She had been in the habit of letting her child defecate behind the kitchen. But the training has taught her otherwise!

Project Result: A Reliable Water Well

We spearheaded a new method of converting the bottom of a hand-dug well into a borehole. When we started this process, the well was at 26 feet deep without any water.

The team sets up the tripod and pulley over the well. Depending on the diameter of the well, the team either drills from inside the well or from ground level. The team will work from ground level here in Royema; they’ve resorted to this method the last couple of projects, and now prefer to work out in the open instead of being confined inside the well.

Every time the drill bit fills, it needs to be pulled up and emptied!

First, they install 8″ PVC casing through the hatch cover down to the bottom of the well. This ensures that the drilling begins straight and also keeps the hole from collapsing. They connect the bucket auger drill bit to the drilling rod and lower it into the well, continuing to add more drill rods until they hit the bottom. Each drill rod is 18 feet in length and every time the team empties the bucket auger, they must reverse the process by disconnecting the rods until the drill bit can be emptied. This method is more labor intensive, but working from the top was much safer in this circumstance. There are different drill bits for different conditions, a special bit just for clay, one for sand, one for rocks and one combination bit for all three conditions.

The team met sand until 60 feet, where clay began. There was plenty of water at this point, so the team decided to stop there.

18 feet of 4¼" casing was slotted for screen and lowered inside the temporary casing from 40 to 58 feet. Five buckets of filter pack were poured between the two casings. The team could then hoist out the temporary casing.

Iron rods were cemented into the well lining and attached to the casing to support the weight of the PVC and keep it straight from bottom to top. The team welded a collar in the pump base to further support the casing.

The well was developed by bailing; two men bailed by hand for four days to ensure proper development. The well could then be tested by installing a submersible pump at 55 feet and using it for one hour. The team measured the discharge, which was 910 gallons. The static water level of 24 feet didn’t drop at all!  We were able to calculate that this well has a great yield of 56 liters per minute. Why is this great? Because a hand-pump can only produce 20 liters of water in a minute!

Community members gather around with their containers as the well is tested for water yield.

With this great success, we could build a new walled well pad and install the new stainless steel hand-pump. The only problem is that it's been so rainy, we haven't been able to paint the well pad yet - it will be white with logos for Mariatu's Hope and The Water Project on its walls.

The evening after the well was finished, we met the community there. It was surrounded by many jubilant people shouting praises and dancing with all their might. It was so exciting to see both young and old singing and dancing together as if they were all equals.

Mr. Lamin came forward to express his gratefulness for having clean water. He further mentioned an incident that took place a while before, when a young boy had to cross the busy road to get to the swamp and was killed by a motorcycle. He spoke with confidence this would never happen again because children won't have to travel long distances for water.

Following that, a young boy name Alpha was called upon to be the first to drink the well's clean water. He later gave it to his mother to finish. Nearly everybody drank from the well - with the exception of the small, small children who were unable to reach the pump because of the crowd.

August, 2017: Royema Community Project Underway

Royema Community will soon have a source of safe and clean water that works year round, thanks to your generous donation. A well that is dry for almost half the year is being deepened, and a new pump installed. The community will also receive training in sanitation and hygiene. Imagine the difference these resources will make for this community!

We just posted an initial report from our partner in the field including an introduction to the community, maps, and pictures. We’ll keep you updated as the work progresses.

Thank You for caring for the thirsty!