Location
Dioulafondu, Kedougou, Senegal
Community Description
Dioulafondu is a medium-sized village of roughly 800 people in the far southeast of Senegal. It is located 50 kilometers northeast of the regional capital of Kedougou, two kilometers off of the new national route to Mali, in the arrondissement of Bembou in the Kedougou region.
The village has an elementary school with two completed concrete classrooms, a classroom currently under construction but still being used, and one bamboo shade structure for the youngest class. The school has two UNICEF-built latrines, but no potable water source nearby.
Located on the edge of Dioulafondu and one kilometer from the nearest source of potable water, the students at the village elementary school have no easy access to water during the school day. Several buckets of water are pulled and carried to school each morning for washing the blackboards but the amount is insufficient for use in handwashing and drinking.
A school garden was started in cooperation with the school director to teach the basics of gardening and nutrition.
Project Description
This project is to build a covered, cement-lined well in the school, and will provide daily access to drinking water.
It will also provide water for irrigation of the school garden during the hot season. The vegetables grown will contribute to the daily school lunch and thus work to improve nutrition among the students.
In addition, handwashing stations outside of the latrines will be implemented in order to promote better hygiene.
The labor for digging the well will be provided for by the village.
Project funds will be used to construct a well cover and install a simple hand pump that will be connected to a small raised reservoir, reducing the effort required to pull water and ensuring a constant supply when needed.
Project Impact
There are currently 133 students and 4 teachers at the Dioulafondu elementary school who will be directly affected by the project by receiving easy access to potable water. The entire village will be indirectly benefited by the increased garden productivity that will allow students to sell surplus vegetables in the village in order to aid future school projects and well-maintenance.
Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Kellen Eilerts
Comments
The new water supply will supply water for the students to drink, for sanitation, and for irrigation of the garden. This will enable better hygiene practices and improved nutrition for the students.
This is a terrific project, in which a very motivated community is providing a major portion of the construction costs of the project. This level of involvement ensures the sustainability of the project.
Dollar Amount of Project
$500.00
Donations Collected to Date
$500.00
Dollar Amount Needed
$0.00 – This project has now been fully funded, through the generosity of The Soneva SLOW LIFE Trust as a part of their Clean Water Projects initiative.
We encourage others to continue to donate using the Donate button below, and we will notify Peace Corps Volunteer Kellen Eilerts of your donation. Additional funds will be used to fund the next project by Kellen and/or those of his counterpart PCVs in Senegal.
This project has been finished. To read about the conclusion of the project, CLICK HERE.