October, 2018: A Year Later: Mayaya Community, Central Mosque

A year ago, your generous donation enabled us to restore water to Mayaya 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...

January, 2018: Mayaya Village Project Complete

Mayaya 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 enough 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 Mayaya, 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

Mr. Alie B. Wurie is a well-known teacher in the community, and was our chosen contact person when planning hygiene and sanitation training. He went door to door inviting families to attend. Training was held at Pa Kindo's home, since he has a large enough veranda to shield everyone from rainy weather.

Training participants hiding from rain under the veranda.

Attendance ranged from 70 to 141 people, with the heaviest attendance on the hand-washing day. This first day, we built hand-washing stations called "tippy taps," which are made from easily accessible materials like sticks and plastic jerrycans. After making these together, we taught about the importance of hand-washing, when to do it, and how to do it. After these sessions, participants could take their new tippy taps home and set them up outside their latrines.

Community members constructing their hand-washing stations.

The next day is always about differentiating between good and bad hygiene practices. Ironically, the trainer arrived just in time to witness a toddler who was let loose by his mother to relieve himself at the edge of the clearing. As he was doing so, a snake slithered out of the bushes and attacked him. The trainer was able to refer to this danger when talking about the hazards of bad health habits in the community.

The trainer using illustrations to lead the community in discussions about good and bad practices.

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?

The final day, we continued these types of discussions. While on the first day we had led people through hand-washing station construction, this third day was similar in that we elaborated on the need for and the viability of building other sanitation facilities like latrines, dish racks, and animal pens. We taught participants what materials to use, proving that even the poorest family can afford to build at least a traditional pit latrine.

Walking around the community, the trainer was able to point out great examples of the facilities that every household needs to have.

Salamatu Sawaneh is a fish trader in Mayaya, and was happy to have attended training. "The truth is that hygiene is a new word to me and my family. But we have come across this word 'cleanliness' which we don't practice. Many of our people died of Ebola because they don't know how to take care of themselves... We have a saying here which is common among us, that germs cannot kill Africans. Our health is even at risk because we have gone far from discipline and we are ignorant about hygiene. Sometimes many people die in this community when a sickness broke out. But now the training has brought us great help. I learned I should always wash my hands with soap and water and that I should be an example to my children and neighbors in applying the principles I have learned about hygiene. We thank you so much for such an important training," she shared.

Salamatu Sawaneh

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 62 feet deep with two feet of water. At this time of the year, community members were only able to draw one or two containers of water before the well needed rest. In a few more weeks, the well would have been completely dry.

The team set 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 worked from ground level here in Mayaya, which also allowed for the hand-pump to remain installed and usable. Since drilling was done within a new temporary casing, it didn’t affect the existing well or its water quality at all. Community members could fetch one to two containers of water from the two feet of water there.

First, they installed 6″ PVC casing through the hatch cover down to the bottom of the well. This ensured that the drilling began straight and also kept the hole from collapsing. They connected the bucket auger drill bit to the drilling rod and lowered 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.

Drilling by hand is tough work!

The team met sand and light-colored clay all the way to 77 feet. They stopped drilling there because below was black clay, which negatively affects drinking water quality.

They lowered 10 feet of casing slotted for screen down to 75 feet, and then dumped six buckets of filter pack 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 70 feet and using it for one hour. The team measured the discharge, which was 800 gallons. We are excited that the static water level at 60 feet deep remained the same throughout the entire test. Thus, the yield is 49 liters per minute.

Yield testing

With this incredible success, we could build a new walled well pad and install the new stainless steel hand-pump. When clean water starts flowing, we always enjoy celebrating with the community. We arrived there after lunch, but it was seriously raining. The children weren't inhibited, and came anyways to sing, dance, and fetch their first containers of clean water from their new well. When prayer finished at the local mosque, the well was flooded by adults singing and dancing.

Salamatu Sawaneh met us again to represent the gratefulness of her neighbors and herself: "I am very grateful for this project. Indeed we have been experiencing water scarcity in this community, leading us to a lot of delays and other challenges. Now I can boast of a safe drinking water close to my house. In fact, words will fail me if I am to explain the feeling I have. But the happiness is within me. Initially, we were very reluctant in cooperating with the team (to attend training, host the artisans, etc.). But we thank you for your persistence, courage and effort in ensuring that we have access to safe water source."

November, 2017: Mayaya Village Project Underway

Mayaya Village 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 months at a time 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 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!