This project has been completed under the technical direction of Peace Corps Volunteer Olivia Kenna. To read about the beginning of this project, CLICK HERE.
The project was to build a well to serve the Foulamory Community Health Hut as a source of potable water for the purposes of sanitation, first aid wound care, and drinking.
Olivia reports:
The digging of the Foulamory Health Hut well started on January 20, 2010 with a ritual blessing by the community’s Muslim spiritual leader, as well as giving of Kola nuts and a chicken to ensure water in the place chosen.
After the blessing the digging started, and it was amazing to see the well diggers dig straight down in a perfect circle without any tools besides picks and a piece of rope. The well was completed on March 24th, 2010 – it took over two months to complete since the well diggers were hired for another Peace Corps volunteer’s project that they worked on simultaneously.
On the day that the final cement slab was laid around the well, one of the village men wrote in the wet cement in Pulaar: “This is the work of Jaja, the white one, volunteer with the Peace Corps. Tuesday, March 24th, 2010.” I also added my own inscription to the base of the well: “With my blessings always, – Jaja ‘Olivia’ Sabaly.”
While the well hold great importance for the work that is carried out on a daily basis in the health hut, it will also serve a number of households located nearby as well as a future community gardening project. The well has many important uses, and the Foulamory community is so grateful to have this opportunity to access clean water.
Olivia went on to thank Appropriate Projects and the donor, Michael Kenna, for making it possible for her to carry out the project.
