January, 2023: Rotifunk Community Well Rehabilitation Complete!
We are excited to share that a safe, reliable water point at Rotifunk in Sierra Leone is now providing clean water to community members! We also conducted hygiene and sanitation training, which focused on healthy practices such as handwashing and using latrines.
"I am grateful for this water well," said 33-year-old Marian Sesay, who we interviewed when we first visited Rotifunk Community. "I want to thank [you] for constructing this water well for us in this community. Before this time, I normally walked a long distance to fetch water. Due to the distance, I was always unable to fetch enough water for my domestic use. Also, I was unable to prepare food on time due to the water crisis."
"This water well will help me to solve all the problems of water I faced during the previous years," Marian continued. "From now onwards, I will be able to go to school on time, because there is a water well in our community that provides sufficient water for me. Also, there will be pure and safe drinking water in this community. There will also be sufficient water for my household's use. So, therefore, this water well will play a significant role in this community and in our various households. I am safe from waterborne diseases because this water well will provide safe and pure drinking water for me. I, therefore, thank [you] for making me be able to achieve these goals. I will forever be grateful for this water well. Thank you."
"I thank [you] for rehabilitating this water well in this community," said 12-year-old Edison, who we also interviewed during our first visit to Rotifunk. "Before this time, I was always late to go to school, because there is no water well in this community. That was why my class teacher always flogged me because it had been a habit of going to school late. Also, due to the lack of sufficient water in the community, I was unable to get the correct quantity of water I need to bathe before going to school. I am happy today because the newly constructed water well will play a key role in my academic performance. It will help me to go to school early in the morning and on time. So, therefore, I will be able to perform well in my academic activities. My teacher will no longer flog me because there is a water well in this community that provides sufficient water for me and my family."
Edison collects water at the rehabilitated well.
"As a student, I will have enough time to study when I return home," Edison continued. "I will no longer go out of the community to fetch water. Besides, the water well is close to my house. Therefore, I will have enough time to fetch water as much as I can. After fetching the quantity of water I need, there will still be enough time to study before going to bed."
We held a dedication ceremony to officially hand over the well to the community members. Several local dignitaries attended the ceremony, including representatives from the Port Loko District Council, the Ward Council, and the Ministry of Water Resources. Each official gave a short speech thanking everyone who contributed to the rehabilitation of the water project and reminding everyone to take good care of it. Then, Marian and Edison made statements on their community's behalf. The ceremony concluded with celebration, singing, and dancing.
Clean Water Restored
The drill team arrived the day before beginning work. They set up camp and unpacked all their tools and supplies to prepare for drilling the next day. The community provided space for the team to store their belongings and 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 drilling tool. 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 18 meters with water at eight meters. The hand-drill method allowed the team to install the cylinder far below the aquifer so that the community has excellent 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.
Bailing dirty water.
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.
Yield test.
As the project neared completion, we built a new 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 be uncomfortable and unhygienic and a breeding ground for disease-carrying mosquitoes.
At last, we installed the pump and conducted a water quality test. The test results showed that this was clean water fit for drinking!
New Knowledge
Before conducting any hygiene training, we called and visited the local water user committee to 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 three-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, COVID-19, 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.
Training participants look over the disease transmission stages.
The most notable topic was disease transmission, during which we hand out posters demonstrating a few ways hygiene-related illnesses can pass from one person to another. At the end of the exercise, one woman shared a story with the rest of the participants. In her household, there was no latrine or handwashing station. So one day, her baby became ill with vomiting and diarrhea. When she took him to the clinic, the medical staff asked about the woman's hygiene and sanitation situation at home. They told her to construct a covered latrine in her compound and to always wash her hands after she used it, especially if she would soon after be handling her baby. She agreed and said that her baby has been healthy ever since following those instructions.
"The three days' training has really changed my notion about the importance of good hygiene and sanitation," said Marian Sesay (quoted earlier). "During the training, I was able to figure out three main issues that I was not really practicing. I was not well grounded that when diarrhea catches a person, I must administer Oral Rehydration Solution to that person, but now that I have been taught how to treat it, I will expand the idea to other people so many lives will be saved. I have also understood the importance of the tippy tap (handwashing station). I have been using the latrine without proper handwashing, but now that I have been taught about it, I will start practicing it and even extend it to everybody in my household."
Conclusion
This project required a substantial collaboration between our staff, our in-country teams, and the community members themselves. When an issue arises concerning the well, community members are equipped with the necessary skills to rectify the problem and ensure the water point works appropriately. However, if the issue is beyond their capabilities, they can contact their local field officers to assist them.
Also, we will continue to offer them unmatchable support as a part of our monitoring and maintenance program. We walk with each community, problem-solving together when they face challenges with functionality, seasonality, or water quality. Together, all these components help us strive for enduring access to reliable, clean, and safe water for this community.
With your contribution, one more piece has been added to a large puzzle of water projects. In our target areas, we’re working toward complete coverage of reliable, maintained water sources within a 30-minute round trip for each community, household, school, and health center. With this in mind, search through our upcoming projects to see which community you can help next!
Thank you for making all of this possible!
