Location
Barkedji, Department of Linguere, Louga Region, Senegal
Community Description
Barkedji is a vibrant community 35 kilometers southeast of the departmental capital, Linguere, in the Louga Region. Nestled in the semi-arid region of the Sahel in the center of Senegal, the community consists of approximately 250 family compounds.
Due to a highly transient community of herders, population estimates range from 2,000 to 4,000 people. The people of Barkedji depend on subsistence farming and small-scale animal husbandry to survive.
The village has 5 French language schools: a kindergarten, 3 primary schools and one middle school.
The Barkedji Sud Primary School is located in the poorer outskirts of town. The school opened in 2008 after the rural council’s president wrote an appeal to the government and recruited a school director. The school’s four teachers currently educate 111 students, 53 of whom are boys and 58 girls.
The school currently has no access to water and no bathrooms. Students needing a drink of water must walk to the nearest family compound. In order to relieve themselves, students must walk into the bush and find a tree. The teachers are forced to end class and go into town if they need to use the facilities.
Project Description
This project is to bring potable water and construct bathroom facilities. A 90-meter pipeline will be run to the school, and a tap will be installed. Also, a double pit latrine with 6 private chambers, one side for females and the other for the males, will be built.
The rural council, the teachers, and the parents association have planned the project and will be responsible for implementation.
A main pipeline from the village’s water tower is located underground 90 meters from the school. Water will be directed to the school from this pipeline through buried PVC piping.
The actual construction of the pipeline will be done by local skilled labor, but a number of parents have volunteered to dig the trench to save on costs.
Two different faucets will be created. One will be near the school building that will be used for students to fill their drinking bottles, teachers to fill cleaning buckets and, hopefully in the near future, to water a school garden. The second will be at a hand washing basin outside the bathrooms. Both taps are very basic metal faucets.
The brick bathroom facilities will consist of 6 private chambers, three for the girls and another 3 for the boys, a wall will separate each chamber and each will have a zinc door to guarantee privacy. Two pits, measuring 3 meters wide and 2 meters deep, will be dug behind the bathroom structure and reinforced with walls of cement. The pits can be pumped once they are full.
Again, volunteers have agreed to dig the pits to save on costs. Then skilled masons will construct the cement lining and bathroom facilities.
Each pit will be covered by a cement platform for safety and sanitary reasons, and have a ventilation PVC pipe equipped with fly screens to assist in reducing the major carrier of disease in the village. The re-bar-enforced cement toilet platforms will connect to the pits using curved plastic tubing.
Various groups within the village have donated approximately 300 bricks to the project. The parents association contributed the equivalent of $120.
Project funds will purchase the tubing for the pipeline, PVC glue, both water faucets, cement, re-bar, zinc for roofing and doors, tubing for the bathrooms, gas for the transportation of material, and pay the skilled labor.
Once the project is completed, an educational mural will be painted encouraging ongoing good hygiene practices. In addition, regular school lessons on health and hygiene will be given to bring about positive behavior change.
Project Impact
The benefits of this project will be warmly welcomed by each of the 111 students and 4 teachers of Barkedji Sud. Additionally, access to water creates the potential to begin a school garden, magnifying the benefits throughout the entire community.
Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Ann Marie Albright
Comments
Water will be available at the school for drinking, cleaning, and hygiene.
By eliminating open defecation there will be a reduction in dehydration caused by diarrhea, one of the leading health concerns of the village.
This ambitious project has tremendous community support, with the people of Barkedji providing most of the labor. It is designed to be sustainable, and will deliver great benefits far into the future.
Dollar Amount of Project
$500.00
Donations Collected to Date
$500.00
Dollar Amount Needed
Dollar Amount Needed
$0.00 – This project has been fully funded, through the generosity of friends and family of Peace Corps volunteer Ann Marie Albright.
We encourage others to continue to donate using the Donate button below, and we will notify Ann Marie of your donation. Additional funds will be used to fund the next project by Ann Marie and/or those of her counterpart PCVs in Senegal.
