July, 2021: DEC Kitonki Primary School Project Complete!

We are excited to share a safe, reliable water point at DEC Kitonki Primary School in Sierra Leone is now providing clean water to students and neighboring community members! We also conducted hygiene and sanitation training, which focused on healthy practices such as handwashing and using latrines.

"Now that we have safe, pure drinking water in our school, my plan now is to make sure I pass all my exams. I will not be worried about fetching water at the wharf during school hours. The students of this school will not misuse this pump. We will handle it with care for our younger ones to enjoy the facility of having safe, pure drinking water in the school compound. All the community people now come to use our well, and I can proudly say I was part of the students that lent a helping hand," said 12-year-old Marie.

Clean Water Restored

The drill team arrived the day before beginning work. They set up camp and unpacked all of their tools and supplies to prepare for drilling the next day. The community provided space for the team to store their belongings, along with meals for the duration of their stay. The following day, the work began.

First, we raised the tripod, the structure we use to hold and maneuver each of the drilling tools. Next, we measured the well's original depth. We then socketed the pipes and installed a casing.

Finally, we lined up the drill rods and started to drill! We reached a final depth of 21 meters with water at 17 meters. The hand-drill method allowed the team to install the cylinder far below the aquifer so that the community has great water access throughout the year.

With drilling complete, we installed screening and a filter pack to keep out debris when the water is pumped. We then cemented an iron rod to the well lining and fixed it with an iron collar at the top. Next, we bailed the well by hand for three days and flushed it, clearing any debris generated by the drilling process. Finally, we tested the yield to ensure the well would provide clean water with minimal effort at the pump.

As the project neared completion, we built a cement platform, walls, and drainage system around the well to seal it off from surface-level contaminants. The drainage system helps to redirect runoff and spilled water to help avoid standing water at the well, which can not only be uncomfortable but unhygienic and a breeding ground for disease-carrying mosquitoes.

At last, we installed the stainless steel India MkII pump and conducted a water quality test. The test results showed that this is clean water fit for drinking!

"This waterpoint has impacted my life in many ways. Especially with my pupils, they can now stay in school full time. There are no excuses for them to escape classes. Before, when the pump was down, someone had to go down to the wharf to fetch drinking water, and they would not return to school. For so many years, we have prayed and applied to several organizations, but finally, when we needed it the most, Mariatu's Hope and The Water Project were able to come to our rescue. We were always left to scramble for access to water all year round when the seasonal changes affected our availability of water. I can now boast of having access to clean and safe water that undergoes stringent water quality testing to further ensure we are drinking safe water," said Ya Alimamy Kamara, Teacher and Chiefdom Head for all the Female Chiefs.

The dedication ceremony was on a Tuesday morning. The teachers, pupils, and the community people were extremely excited about the conversion of the hand-dug well into a borehole. During the day of the dedication, many people from the community were already standing in line to fill the countless number of rubber buckets. The ceremony was witnessed by a representative from the MOWRS, Port Loko District Council, a former teacher at the school, and other stakeholders within the community. During the celebration, everyone was happy for the water well, especially the pupils and the teachers,  singing and dancing songs of praises to God Almighty for this great opportunity they now have in their school.

New Knowledge

Before conducting any hygiene training, we made repeated phone calls and visits to the local water user committee to better understand the community’s challenges and lack of sanitation facilities. We shared the findings from our discussions with the committee members to help them make the necessary adjustments before the training began. For example, we identified households without handwashing stations or ones that may need to repair their latrines. With this information, community members worked together to improve hygiene and sanitation at home.

After this preparatory period, we scheduled a time when members from each household using the water point could attend a multi-day hygiene and sanitation training. We then dispatched our teams to the agreed-upon location to hold the meeting.

Training topics covered included handwashing and tippy taps, good and bad hygiene habits, disease transmission and prevention, worms and parasites, dental hygiene, proper care of the well's pump, keeping the water clean, the cost recovery system, dish racks and clotheslines, the importance of toilets, keeping latrines clean, balanced diets, the diarrhea doll, and HIV and AIDS.

"On behalf of me and my fellow students of this school, I want to first thank the team from Mariatu's Hope and The Water Project for such training. This training is of great importance to us as a school, and the knowledge from this training will help us prevent ourselves and our families from contracting the deadly Corona Virus. Most of us that attend this school come from homes where we are the only people that can spell our names, let alone read. I will teach my parents and siblings about keeping the environment and ourselves clean.

One of the most memorable topics during training was malaria. The teachers, pupils, and community members asked many questions about the disease, which were answered by their colleagues and hygiene and sanitation team members.  Some claimed that too much beer, oranges, mangos, and even palm oil could lead to malaria infections. This was their first time to know that it is only a mosquito bite that can cause malaria and not any of the foods they have limited. They promised to be sleeping inside their bed nets and always be cleaning their communities to avoid mosquito bites. Also, they promised to stop depriving their children of eating these fruits they once believed were responsible for malaria infections.

Community member Abibatu Conteh was grateful for the training. He shared, "The training is very important to me and my fellow community members because it has helped us learn about how to care for ourselves, families, and community. And if we as a community take into consideration all that we have been taught during this training, our lives will change for the better. We will be able to make better and positive health decisions. I am going to make sure all the required facilities are kept up. If we only listen when the team is around, what will happen when they are not?"

Thank you for making all of this possible!

June, 2021: DEC Kitonki Primary School project underway!

Dirty and unreliable water is making students in DEC Kitonki Primary School sick. Thanks to your generosity, we’re working to install a clean water point and much more.

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