Rehabilitation Project
Upon completion of the project, our partner in the field reports...
Community Details
The Mariatu's Hope team commented on the original water, hygiene and sanitation situation for 45 families living in Mashine community. "The community tried to dig some holes in a swampy area in order to access water for drinking, domestic and cultural rights. Since the dug holes are open, eroded debris dropped into these holes and constantly introduced contaminants into the water sources. There was no single sanitation facility visible in the community and the residents themselves confirmed that they had no sanitation facilities. As a result, the nearby bushes served as the alternative means for toilets or open defecation. The community is prone to water-related diseases and has been fortunate to have not yet recorded any Ebola cases. However, the restricted movement that has been imposed on the country and their livelihood, since most are farmers, still greatly affects them. The people live in fear of the virus all the time."
Water is a basic human right. "The human right to water is indispensable for leading a life in human dignity. It is a prerequisite for the realization of other human rights." For the 45-family community of Mashine, safe water has been secured and a door to realizing other human rights has been opened—all through the restoration of safe water. Before Mariatu's Hope's intervention, the well that was intended to serve this community had been abandoned for a long time. It was extensively damaged and the debris inside the well was significant. The well had many cracks and in order to restore the water point, the team had to clean up the debris before they could start redeveloping the well and relocate a sufficient aquifer. After developing the well, the team made numerous repairs to the well lining and capped the well with a new Afridev hand pump.
Although securing safe drinking water in a thirsty community is paramount for community development, dignity, and good health, securing safe water will only remain if the community is committed to maintaining their improved or restored water point. To help encourage community commitment, the Mariatu's Hope team held a community meeting before any project activities took place. During this meeting, the people were encouraged to keep safe water in their community by taking full ownership of their restored water point. To embark on community ownership, a five-person Water Committee was established and trained to manage the water point, and they were equipped with skills to repair the well—were it to become damaged. For the Water Committee, a point person was identified and trained to maintain the restored water point. Part of the responsibility of this Water Committee is also to collect a nominal fee of $0.05 USD per liter of water collected from families to create a resource fund for future or necessary well repairs.
Hygiene Promotion
To allow the 45-family community the full benefits of knowing safe water and to encourage community participation and behavior change, hygiene and sanitation lessons were combined with demonstrations. The team spent time teaching additional lessons on the Ebola virus to create even more awareness on how the people can avoid contracting the virus and how they should handle suspected cases. Hand washing with soap was emphasized and the team provided the community with amenities such as disinfectants to be used at the well site before collecting water. When teaching about keeping the water clean, the H&S trainer used an actual bucket of water to demonstrate how beneficiaries should properly cover the bucket to keep the water clean. In practice and to encourage the adoption of good hygiene behaviors, the team first educates communities served so that they are able to make not only good hygiene choices, but informed hygiene choices. Using a participatory method to help community members discover ways to improve their hygiene and sanitation choices and implement community driven solutions, the team addressed the following hygiene lessons: disease transmission, germs, healthy and unhealthy communities, hand washing-proper techniques and water-saving methods, latrine perception, diarrhea doll-causes of diarrhea, good/bad hygiene behaviors, tippy tap and proper care of the pump. After the initial hygiene lessons were shared, the community was encouraged to construct proper latrines and was informed about the dangers of continuing the practice of open defecation. Beneficiaries embraced the hygiene and sanitation lessons and promised to start constructing three communal toilets, as a start, and eventually each household will be encouraged to have a toilet for individual use. The project staff will maintain a relationship with the community and continue to follow up and monitor the implementation of activities that were initially promoted to beneficiaries, including the construction of toilets. Besides this, the WASH committee in the community is also tasked with following up with the community to help guide the implementation of project activities. Lastly, the team works with government officials who take time to follow up with the implementation of proposed activities. At the end of the day, the project staff liaison with all of these stakeholders will make sure that the planned activities are achieved.
Community Member Interview
"Since the well broke down more than 18 years ago, we have been using the swamps to get water, and it was not good for us," shared 40-year-old community member, beneficiary and small-scale farmer, Sulaimana. "We were sharing the water with animals and this made us suffer many diseases. Now that we have our well back, we are thankful to God. This water is safe and clean and it’s close to our houses. We believe we will no longer suffer from many of the diseases we used to suffer from."
