Rehabilitation Project
This project was implemeted by another partner, but is now monitored and maintained by The Water Project together with Mariatu's Hope.
Community Details
When the Sierra Leone team arrived in Targrin Community to rehabilitate the community’s borehole the team gathered community families for an initial meeting which started with opening prayers (both Christian and Muslim as per traditional practices in Sierra Leone) where 56 community leaders and elders were in attendance. The welcome address was done by the community elders and they acknowledged their need not only for safe water points but also improved sanitation practices. Targrin is a coastal community of 19,000 people with 40% under the age of 18 and with 500 families residing in Targrin Community alone. Approximately 90% of the households do not have toilets. It is a community of open defecation practices, as many toilet on the beach. Many have suffered much from the cholera outbreak of 2012, with numerous cases being reported including many deaths. At this time, there are five sealed wells with hand pumps and Living Water has rehabilitated four in the past.
The community elders agreed to elect and support a community WASH committee and also expressed the need for more development in Targrin. The responsibility was placed on the WASH committee to maintain their well after the 6-month follow-up.
A WASH committee consisting of 7 men and 2 women was established and members were encouraged to raise money through a household user fee and to set this fee at a point affordable by households based on their income. By doing this the WASH committee will be able to raise money for future maintenance and repairs as needed. Follow-up in Targrin Community will occur during the next 6 months to help supply the WASH committee with one full set of consumable spare parts, which will make for significant time for the community to raise resources necessary for future maintenance and repairs.
Hygiene Promotion
The Sierra Leone team has held trainings in this community several times and has included the child health club from St. Monica School to help deliver the message of proper hygiene and how this has a tremendous impact on the health and wellbeing of the community. The community really responds well to the child health club trainings. The trainings are ongoing and we plan to continue doing more well rehabilitations and also drilling a few new wells one being at a school. The team plans on having a workshop on tippy tap construction and use to reinforce the previous trainings. Regarding sanitation, 90% use the beaches. Most of the population lives close to the shoreline so the water table is high and if they dug pit latrines they would be just contaminating their water source. In the areas that are on higher ground we are initiating these households to build native toilets on their own. But truly the problem of poor sanitation in Targrin is a huge problem and needs to be addressed at the government level, such as a sewage treatment facility.
During the hygiene education, and using a Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) approach, the team addressed: Disease transmission, germs, healthy and unhealthy communities, hand washing-proper techniques and water saving methods, good-bad hygiene behaviors, disease transmission stories, clean hand clean hearts, tippy tap, proper care of the pump and keeping the water clean. All of these lessons are taught in a participatory method to help community members discover ways to improve their hygiene and sanitation choices, and implement community driven solutions.
Community Member Interview
The team had an opportunity to meet with 38-year-old community member, farmer and fisherman, Alusine, who stated, "I feel now people understand how important clean water is and how it makes us healthy. Before we did not know and just drank water we could find. I am proud and thankful."
