Rehabilitation Project
This project was implemented by another partner, but is now monitored and maintained by The Water Project together with Mariatu's Hope.
When the Sierra Leone team arrived, 58 families and a health clinic were dependent on a well that ran dry between February to April and there was no pump from where the community could get water. The community also depended on an unprotected spring and various forms of rain water collection to help sustain their most immediate water needs. The Sierra Leone team cleared, sunk the well, restored the pump base, installed new pump and poured a cement base. The community’s access and use of pit latrines, a pit latrine with a slab and a VIP latrine will help prevent further spread of disease in the area. The continued use of these facilities coupled with sustained hygiene promotion will promote good hygiene behaviors and provide an opportunity for behavioral change in the community. During the team’s stay, the community-established water committee assisted the team with the water project whenever possible and supplied any materials they had available. Before leaving the area, the team provided the water committee with a contact number in case their well were to fall into disrepair, become subject to vandalism or theft.
Using the Traditional Method, the team addressed: Disease Transmission, Germs, Healthy and Unhealthy Communities, Good-Bad Hygiene Behaviors, Disease Transmission Stories, Tippy Tap, Proper Care of Pump and Keeping the Water Clean.
The Sierra Leone team had an opportunity to meet with thirty-seven year old community member and nurse, Kadijatu Mansaray, who stated, "The old source was open and people were using Jerri cans with ropes. This used to make water very dirty and sometimes the rope would cut and the cans fall into the well thereby contaminating the water. It also used to dry up during the dry season. This used to affect the submersible pump the health center is using as it could not pump adequate water. They were forced to close the well from the community people and as such they had to get water from the river which is too far and also contaminated since animals use the same source. But with the new well people will have access to the well at all times."
