Project Status



Project Type:  Dug Well and Hand Pump

Regional Program: Port Loko, Sierra Leone WaSH Program

Impact: 213 Served

Project Phase:  In Service - Aug 2018

Functionality Status:  Functional

Last Checkup: 01/18/2024

Project Features


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Community Profile

Molokoh Community is right along the highway, which makes it very easy to reach because the highway was just paved. Buildings are in rows on either side of the road, some made of brick and others of cement. Most of these are homes with several family members living under one roof.

The mosque here is the central meeting place in this area. Headman Pa Sorie Kamara's parents were the original founders of this mosque. According to him, the mosque was around before he was born. That makes it almost a century old! About 175 people gather for prayers and teachings.

Water

Packaged water can be purchased in local shops, but the income level of most people does not make this a viable choice.

There is one working well here. There are two others that do not have water. The well with water gets extraordinarily crowded, and many community members can't make it through the line to fill their bucket. This forces them out to find water elsewhere, most often at the swamp. The swamp is far away, but there's always a chance to easily fill up a bucket, making it the primary water source for hundreds of people.

But at the peak of the dry season in March, even the working well goes dry. Even the early riser must resort to the dirty swamp water. The water in the swamp gets low too, and people have to dig holes to find water.

"Normally when I run out of pump water, I send my kids to fetch water from the swamp. But anytime I drink the swamp water, I experience frequent diarrhea. This makes me have a lot less energy," Mr. Pa Sorie Kamara said.

Sanitation

People living around here lack any respect for good hygiene. They are more concerned about earning a living than their health. They leave home very early in the morning and fail to clean their environment, which is the cause of some of their sicknesses.

There is a latrine for each gender at the mosque, but they're uncovered with flies coming and going. There are two handwashing pitchers available, but mosque leadership admits they rarely have water because of the overall shortage in this community.

"I have to confess that based on the small education that you have given me about hygiene just since we met, our current state is poor,"Sheik Umaru Sesay told us.

"Even our toilet in the mosque is not well sanitized because we do not have a handwashing facility in it, and the hole is not covered as we speak."

What we can do:

Training

There will be hygiene and sanitation training sessions offered to community members.

The hygiene and sanitation trainer decided it would be best to teach community members and mosque leadership how to build a tippy tap (a handwashing station built with a jerrycan, string, and sticks). They will use these tippy taps for handwashing demonstrations, and will also teach about other tools like dish racks and the importance of properly penning in animals. Pictures will be used to teach the community how to discern between healthy and unhealthy hygiene and sanitation practices.

These trainings will also strengthen a water user committee that will manage and maintain this well. They will enforce proper behavior and report to us whenever they need our help solving a serious problem, like a pump breakdown.

Well Rehabilitation

Out of the three hand-dug wells in Molokoh, the mosque is the best place to start restoring water. Since the entire community is Muslim, the mosque is already a daily meeting place for everyone.

This well is too shallow to outlast the dry months, will be converting it to a borehole at the bottom. Our drill team will be hand-drilling it much deeper! Once they’ve struck more than enough water, they’ll build a new well pad and install a stainless steel India MkII pump.

This clean water well will be open to the entire community, not just those attending prayers or worship at the mosque.


This project is a part of our shared program with Mariatu’s Hope. Our team is pleased to provide the reports for this project (edited for clarity) thanks to the hard work of our friends in Sierra Leone.

Project Updates


August, 2018: Clean Water in Molokoh Community

We are excited to share that there is a safe, reliable water point in Molokoh Community, already providing clean water to families! People here no longer have to rely on dirty water from the swamp. Hygiene and sanitation training was also conducted, which focused on healthy practices such as washing hands and using latrines.

New Knowledge

The training coordinator made calls to the headman informing him about the proposed schedule. A day before the first hygiene and sanitation training, a representative of the team went to the community in order to remind people of the plans.

Attendance was great. Since it was a hot and dry season, we were happy that the headman offered that we meet under the shade of his mango tree.

Most of the people out in this rural community can't read or write, but our trainers took this into account and planned special activities for them. They used lots of pictures and demonstrations to communicate about hygiene and sanitation.

Helping each other build tippy taps, an economical type of handwashing station

Topics included handwashing and how to make a tippy tap handwashing station, good and bad hygiene, disease transmission, tools like dish racks and clotheslines, oral rehydration solution, animal care, latrine use, and pump maintenance.

Teaching how to make an oral rehydration solution

The teaching on dish racks and clotheslines really made an impact. These tools are often taken for granted in rural communities, and people don't see anything wrong with drying things on the ground. The team reminded them of disease transmission and the role dish racks and clotheslines play in preventing that. Ringworms, rashes etc. are infections one is likely to acquire by drying clothes on the ground. For utensils and dishes, domestic fowl step in all sorts of messy stuff and bring that back home. There was a lot of surprise on people's faces, particularly when they learned they were getting skin diseases from their clothes.

"I had never been taught what we learned during the three days of training. We as a country do not normally know that handwashing is important," said Pa Sorie Kamara.

Pa Sorie Kamara

"This training will help us sanitize our homes and drive away diseases."

Clean Water Restored

The first thing the drill team did when they arrived Molokoh was to contact the local leaders. After getting permission to proceed, they set up camp by the well.

Here is how they restored clean, reliable water here:

1. Raise the tripod

2. Find the original depth (for this well, we measured 72.5 feet)

3. Socket the pipes

4. Install casing

5. Line up the drill rods

6. Drill!

Drilling by hand is always hard labor. The first layer of ground was sand for 10 feet before hitting a sandy clay that lasted another 10. This was the material we worked through all the way up to 97 feet.

7. Install screening and filter pack

8. Cement an iron rod to well lining, and fix it with an iron collar at the top

9. Bail the well by hand for three days

This process removes any debris left over from construction.

10. Test the yield (we got a static water level of 71.5 feet going at 60 liters per minute)

11. Build a cement platform, walls, and drainage system

12. India Mk11 pump installation

The hand-drill method allows the team to install the cylinder far below the aquifer so that the community has great water access throughout the year.

13. Water quality test

The Ministry of Water Resources has verified that this well meets the World Health Organization’s standards for drinking water.

We scheduled a celebration on the following Friday, meeting with the community after they finished prayers at the mosque. People were dressed their nicest for going to the mosque during Ramadan, and singing and dancing was prohibited. Nonetheless, some kids and even adults sidled up to the new pump and had some fun splashing in the clean water.

"This water well is a blessing to this community. Our kids used to go to the swamp, a very huge distance, only to fetch contaminated water. And in the rainy season, the swamp water is infested with cholera and diarrhea," shared Mr. Gibril Koroma.

"The availability of a decent water well like this with clean water will help salvage the water crisis we have been living in."




June, 2018: Molokoh Community Project Underway

Dirty water from the swamp is making people in Molokoh Community sick. Thanks to your generosity, we’re working to install a clean water point and much more.

Get to know your community through the narrative and pictures we’ve posted, and read about this water, sanitation and hygiene project. We look forward to reaching out with more good news!




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.


Giving Update: Molokoh, 720 Main Motor Road

November, 2019

A year ago, your generous donation helped Molokoh, #720 Main Motor Road in Sierra Leone access clean water – creating a life-changing moment for Nanah Kamara. Thank you!

Keeping The Water Promise

There's an incredible community of monthly donors who have come alongside you in supporting clean water in Molokoh Community, 720 Main Motor Road.

This giving community supports ongoing sustainability programs that help Molokoh Community, 720 Main Motor Road 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!

Tremendous development has so far been seen for the past year since the completion of the well project at 720 Main Motor Road in Molokoh, Sierra Leone. The reliable well has eased the burden of going to the previous water source which is approximately two miles to and from their houses.

"We no longer go to the swamp to fetch water. The distance to the previous water source was so far and until you see your kid safe at home you will not be rest assured. Now we have water easily at our disposal," said Mariatu S. Kamara.

"Our health has truly improved. We are very thankful and appreciative of you."

Sicknesses like dysentery, cholera and diarrhea, which were very much prevalent in the town, are seriously reduced and are fading out. Issues like kids and women falling down and breaking their containers are things of the past.

"Great change has taken place in the past year. I am now saved from waking up in the morning by 6:00 am to fetch water in that distant and strenuous place. My elders used to bully me a lot along the path to the swamp. Thank God for the pump!" said Nanah Kamara, a 14-year-old girl

A lot has improved, particularly in the area of hygiene and sanitation. We found that community members are putting into practice the lessons they learned as a part of the hygiene and sanitation training that accompanied the construction.

"The hygiene and sanitation practices the hygiene team thought us is properly been implemented by the clean and pure water been provided to us. Our toilet and surroundings are been taken care of frequently," said Mariatu.


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 Molokoh Community, 720 Main Motor Road 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 Molokoh Community, 720 Main Motor Road – 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

Project Sponsor - Pineapple Fund