CONCLUSION OF FONI BREFET DISTRICT REHAB TOUR PHASE 1

CONCLUSION OF FONI BREFET DISTRICT REHAB TOUR PHASE 1

Water For Everyone, Water For Everyone - The Gambia

CONCLUSION OF FONI BREFET DISTRICT REHAB TOUR PHASE 1

Happy smiles on women as clean water flows meaning an end to diarrhoea and other waterborne diseases affecting their children for far too long

This project has been successfully completed thanks to Water Charity and its local partner Working Water The Gambia (WWG). This is part of a series of projects launched under the Water for Everyone Initiative. The project mission was to improve water access and sanitation conditions across 9 villages by rehabilitating handpumps, installing new ones where necessary, and providing hand washing stations to improve sanitation and hygiene in the communities of Bajana Village, Brefet Village, Bullock Village, Jagil Village, Jalokoto Village, Ndemban Japihuim Village, Ndemban Jola Village, Somita Village and Sutusinjang Village. Thanks to the collaborative support of the villagers in all these villages, the project was completed successfully. This project provides access to clean water and sanitation to over 10,000 people.

PROJECT ACTIVITIES 

The project saw the successful dewatering, re-digging of wells, and installation of new German Mark 2 cylinders and conversion heads, stainless-steel pipes, rod couplings, check nuts, pedestals, axles and bearings. Concrete water troughs were built, new culverts for wells and concrete slabs. Handwashing stations were installed in all project intervention communities supplied with detergents. In partnership with The Gambia’s Department of Water Resources, quality testing, and treatment were also conducted at the end of each community project. In each community, learning sessions were held on effective handwashing techniques and simple water management strategies. Communities also participated in manual works like digging, collecting sand and gravel. They also hosted workers, which assured that all materials were secured. 

OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT 

The primary objective of this project is to provide clean drinking water and better sanitation for the people of the selected 9 villages in the Foni Brefet District. This has been successfully achieved at the completion of the project. 

  • The Foni region has long suffered from the lack of clean drinking water. The region has been hit hard with the mass felling of trees and frequent bushfires. Also, the conflict between Senegalese forces and separatist rebels in the southern Senegalese region of Cassamance has made things worse for the region of Foni as it shares a long border with Cassamance. Mass movement of refugees from the recent clashes has worsened the water crisis for communities hosting the refugees. One of the objectives of the project is to ease the pressure of the lack of clean drinking water in communities, as well as provide sanitation. 
  • One of the objectives of this project is to provide clean drinking water for marginalized vulnerable communities. Foni has a lot of isolated villages that feel abandoned and forgotten. This project has made them feel heard, socially included, and a part of humanity. 
  • The project also empowers women and girls. We all know the burden women and girls bear in water collection. Statistics has shown that Foni is one of the lowest female enrolment rates in school. This clean water project will empower girls participation in school. The time spent on water collection is far shorter now for school-going girls. 
  • Another important objective of this project is to inculcate the habit of hand washing in communities. At each of the rehabilitated water sources in each community, a hand washing station is provided with detergents and also a learning session on the techniques of effective hand washing. Members of the community gather in the village square for the learning sessions. This is a tool to combat the spread of germs and other communicable diseases that could spread within communities especially after using the toilets. It also aids nursing mothers as well as children to understand the importance of hygiene and sanitation. Participation in the learning sessions was high. Community engagement was immense and enthusiastic. 
  • In the Fonis, open defecation is not as big a concern as it is in the central regions of the country. Nonetheless, another key objective of these water projects is to facilitate round-the-clock household access to water. This will steer people away from going outside to defecate. The availability of water in the households is a catalyst towards the cessation of open defecation. 
  • Another objective of these projects is to encourage women’s engagement in household-level horticulture gardening. Every rehabilitated water source includes a concrete watering trough. The water trough traps wastewater from the hand pump and can be used by nearby houses for small-scale household horticulture vegetable gardening. This avoids the wastage of water and allows households to grow vegetables and enables their livestock to drink. This helps provide the households with a balanced diet and thereby alleviates the extreme poverty communities’ face, especially in the dry season. 
  • Another key objective of this project is to cut down the high rate of water-related illnesses in the recipient communities. Children often face the brunt when it comes to waterborne diseases. Certain households are drained of all resources when a family is struck with waterborne diseases. These water projects will lessen the burden on communities and money that would otherwise be spent on doctors or medicine can be used for food or for girls’ education instead. 
  • Setting up and training village water management committees was another objective of the project. We set up and trained water management committees in all the project communities. They help in the day-to-day management and maintenance of the water source. This will help make the project sustainable. As best practice, we ensure the committee is gender-balanced and that women have a say in the maintenance and management of the water source. Traditional women communicators known as ‘’Kanyeleng’’ are also involved in the sensitization of communities for better water management.
Hand washing stations is installed in the community and the community is being sensitized on how to do proper hand washing

BENEFICIARY TESTIMONIAL

The excitement and happiness is overwhelming in all the communities. Heads of villages of the respective 9 villages all expressed their sincere thanks for the project and happiness, highlighting the positive impact that these clean water projects have in their lives. Burama Saidy, the local councilor of the district, heaped praises on and thanks to Water Charity. He also mentioned the social and economic importance of the water projects, as well as the tremendous importance of clean drinking water for the communities, especially in relation to the provision of education and the increased well-being. He also mentioned the importance and timeliness of the project given communities have experienced an influx of refugees from the Cassamance crisis.  

Mrs. Jainaba Ceesay, the head of the cultural women group called the “Kanyeleng’’ in Somita Ward also gave her thanks for the district water projects, saying this will give girls more time for their educations as the hours spent on searching for water would be utilized at school and study. Other community leaders of the beneficiary villages expressed their thanks and gratitude for the clean water projects. They emphasized the importance of these water projects, saying it will promote greater understanding and goodwill among the various tribes within the community. The traditional Chief ruler of the district Junkung Camara says the power of clean drinking water unifies tribes and clans. This project will solidify brotherliness and more understanding among ourselves, he said. He also urged village water committee members to wholeheartedly strive to take good care of the water sources. I used to wake up as early as 4 AM, says Musukebba Jarju, a resident of Jalokoto Village. “Now I can have a peace of mind because this project has provided easily accessed to clean water for me and my family. I am the happiest woman on earth’’, she said… 

Thanks to the donors for making this project a success.

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BAJANA ViLLAGE

  • The villagers seem to be in a hurry for clean drinking water even though the workers are not fully completely ready with works
  • Old and rusty conversion head of the handpump. The community has been without a working water source for long
  • Old and rusty handpump water tank
  • Dismantling the handpump getting the old pieces out
  • The water trough

BREFET VILLAGE

  • These students are making best use of the hand washing station after using the toilet. Hand washing culture is inculcated in the community
  • Work in progress
  • Water is life
  • Water is flowing finally after long time they have been without clean drinking water
  • This is the old rusty cylinder
  • Power and sweat with hard labor by our able contractors. They are truly dedicated in their works
  • Gearing up ready for work
  • Putting on the brand new Grundfos stainless steel high quality cylinder for German Mark 2 handpumps. Quality is assured

BULLOCK VILLAGE

  • All smiles and joy when water is available. Life becomes meaningful with clean drinking water
  • All the kids want to have a go with the handpump. The excitement of having clean drinking water is huge
  • Grandma sits patiently waiting for the good news that clean drinking water is available now for the community
  • While others are in the farms, members of the community came out to help the workrs
  • Pull up time
  • Putting on the brand new Grundfos stainless steel high quality cylinder for German Mark 2 handpumps. Quality is assured
  • Removing the old rusty pipes replacing them with stainless steel pipes for durability

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JAGIL VILLAGE

  • Little Olimatou is excited about the hand washing station
  • All smiles and happiness with water
  • All hands on deck to remove the old handpump and replace it with new one
  • Opening the well for dewatering and sanitizing the well prior to installing new parts
  • Taking away the rusty pipes
  • Old parts being removed and replaced

JALOKOTO VILLAGE

  • These two school going girls can now concentrate on their education because they now have easy access to clean water
  • Hand washing stations is installed in the community and the community is being sensitized on how to do proper hand washing
  • Elders of the community share their joy for the clean water project
  • Fatou is a mother of 4 and she suffers a lot in water crisis. Now she is relieved with this clean drinking water project
  • Foday is happy to do clean hand washing with the new hand washing station. The culture of hand washing is inclucated in the community
  • This woman and her kids are glad to have water. She used to travel about 4 miles daily to nearby villages searching water for her family
  • Kawsu used to travel 6 miles daily with his donkey cart searching for water but now he have access to water easily in the village
  • It is a deep well
  • Hand washing stations is installed in the community and the community is being sensitized on how to do proper hand washing
  • Removing the old parts of the handpump

NDEMBAN JAPIHUIM VILLAGE

  • At times people become dumbfounded when they see clean drinking water is flowing again in their community
  • We train communities to practice the habit of hand washing by installing hand washing stations and providing detergents
  • Works on going for the perimeter fencing and water trough while the new hand pump has been installed
  • Work in progress. removing the old rods from the old pipes
  • Dismantling the handpump gradually and opening the well for dewatering and sanitizing the well

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NDEMBAN JOLA VILLAGE

  • Women demonstrating clean hand washing skills
  • The community now have access to clean drinking water. Here is the head of the village with other members of the village
  • Hand washing stations is installed in the community and the community is being sensitized on how to do proper hand washing
  • The water trough helps to avoid wastage of water and it also helps household animals to have a drinking point which helps fight hunger
  • Installing new handpumps for the community
  • Ready to pull down the first culverts down the well
  • Lowering down the culverts in the well
  • Inspecting the stainless steel pipes and rods before installations process starts
  • Opening the well as the re-digging of the well is about to start
  • Dewatering in progress
  • Arranging the culverts ready to be dropped down the well as the digging proceeds

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SOMITA VILLAGE

  • The contractor and his team gearing up for works
  • That serious looks
  • Taking the pieces apart as works begin
  • Replacing the old and rusty water tank of the handpump
  • Removing the old rods and cylinder and replacing them with new ones
  • Installing new German Mark 2 handpump conversion heads
  • Ansu, one of the workers is assuring the community they will now have clean drinking water when the project is completed
  • Our mother is now fetching water for us to drink and be healthy says these two children as they watch their mother fetching water
  • Oh i also tasted the water and its very nice. Voice of the kids after the completion of the project. the excitement is overwhelming
  • Awa can now concentrate on her learning at school instead of worrying about where the next cup of water will come from
  • Our mother is now fetching water for us to drink and be healthy says these two children as they watch their mother fetching water
  • Water is back in the community to the delight of this boy

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This project has been finished. To read about the conclusion of the project, CLICK HERE.

Kasunya D/A Basic School Water & Sanitation Project – Ghana

Kasunya D/A Basic School Water & Sanitation Project – Ghana

Uncategorized

Kasunya D/A Basic School Water & Sanitation Project – Ghana

This project is made possible through the partnership of WATER CHARITY and Child Survival Aid Ghana.

Location

Kasunya D/A Basic school in Dagbe West District of Ghana, Africa

Community Description

Kasunya D/A Basic Schools is located Dagbe West District of Ghana. The school is very impoverished and serves a student population of about 1,200 in grades kindergarten primary through JH3 with a staff of 20 teachers. The school has no portal water and place of the toilet. This has led to a sudden decrease in pupils’ enrolment rate at the Kasunya D/A Basic Schools.

Access to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) remains central to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) where access to these services has been recognized as a human right (General Assembly, 2010; United Nations, 2015). Goals 4 and 6 of the SDGs aim at ensuring a universal, sustainable and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water, adequate sanitation and hygiene by 2030. The quest to prevent and reduce the effects of poor access to good quality facilities, led to the formulation and implementation of the WASH program aimed at ensuring proper sanitary conditions (United Nations Children’s Fund [UNICEF] and World Health Organization, 2016). The UNICEF Ghana & CDD-Ghana (2016) indicate that WASH is at the center of all efforts towards achieving goals 4 and 6 of the SDGs.

Problem Addressed

It is disappointing to note that in this modern age, there is no place of convenience. This is an issue to be worried about. This was one of the major concerns raised by the headmaster and the teachers of the school during our visit. They said that this has resulted in the practice of open defecation which has the potential to contribute to the people suffering from the contaminating effects of open defecation particularly children. Using a proper toilet would prevent the transfer of bacteria, viruses and parasites found in human excreta which otherwise contaminate water resources, soil and food. This contamination is a major cause of diarrhea, the second biggest killer of children and leads to other major diseases such as cholera, schistosomiasis and trachoma.

Improving access to sanitation is a critical step towards reducing the impact of these diseases. It also helps create physical environments that enhance safety, dignity and self-esteem. Safety issues are particularly important for children. Progress has not been made with the Sustainable Development Goal target on sanitation at the current rates of progress even though the Inter-governmental Open Working Group on the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals has recommended that the new goals include a target of achieving adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and ending open defecation by 2030. This is one of the reasons why the appeal to end the practice of open defecation is being made with growing insistence.

Project Description

Given the foregoing, the need for the provision of clean portable accessible water and toilet system is paramount and acute. The concept of the project has been discussed and approved by the school authorities and a piece of land has been designated for the project. The proposed project seeks to bring clean water, toilet and Sanitation systems to the school.

With the provision of this water, the project also seeks to take advantage by building a toilet/restroom system to improve sanitation. The school community will provide labor in the form of digging required trenches for laying pipes. They will also provide labor and materials for any concrete structures. This project will therefore have a dual function of providing clean water as well as a toilet facility thereby enhancing the quality of life and decreasing the water-borne disease burden from contamination from poorly disposed of public fecal matter.

OBJECTIVES & GOAL

Objectives

  • To promote hygiene and health care delivery
  • To restore hope by providing care, love and support
  • To promote the Sustainable Development Goals

Goal

To contribute to the Government of Ghana’s effort in promoting the Sustainable Development Goals 1, 3 and 8 by ending poverty, promoting good health and well-being and decent learning, and safe environment for these poor school children and teachers at Kasunya D/A Basic Schools

EXPECTED RESULTS/OUTCOME

By the end of the project:

  • Sanitation promoted
  • Kasunya D/A Basic Schools community provided with toilets and clean water
  • School Community members discouraged from the practice of open defecation

Cost Projection

Item Description Unit Cost (GHC) Quantity Cost GHC (GHC)
PVC pipes for water connection 250 50 Pieces 12, 500
Cement for concrete platform raised to 15 feet to support Storage tanks/ block laying and plating works 100 100 10,000
Storage Tanks (Rambo 450 – 1000gals ) 6,500 3 19,500
Piping and distribution 625 4 2500
Water closet systems 750 10 7,500
Construction of toilet block 7 3,500 17,500
Total cost of construction   1 69,500
Contingency (10% of cost) 6,950 1 6,950
GRAND TOTAL 76,450

*All monies are quoted in Ghana Monetary Denomination (New Ghana Cedi) Exchange Rate (as of 3/2/23) 1 USD = 12.25 GHC

Total Cost in USD = $ 6242

Projected Timeline

Period Activity
February- Match 2023 Sourcing for Funding
Beginning of April. 2023 Initiation of the Project
End of June 2023 Completion of the Project
June 15th 2023 Inspection of the Project
July 2023 Commission of the Project

The funds for this program have been advanced by Water Charity. Your donation using this Donate button will ensure that we have funds available to accomplish this project. Kindly donate using the button below:

Busoga Region Borehole Program – Uganda

Busoga Region Borehole Program – Uganda

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Busoga Region Borehole Program – Uganda

,

Busoga Region – UGANDA

This project is made possible through the partnership of WATER CHARITY and the OKOA Hero’s Child Ministries.

Location

Iganga District, Uganda

Community Description

Iganga District in Uganda is home to a population of about 402,000 people according to City Population. Most of the people living in it are peasants who have limited access to clean water and poor sanitation facilities. Poverty still remains the significant and very critical situation for the residents. 33% of the population’s access to clean water are in the center of the district, while the rest about 67% of the population must rely on unclean sources like swamp and wells.

Picture showing a dried-out borehole in Bulamangi which used to serve more than 500 people in the village.

In rural Uganda today, 67% of people have limited to zero access to a safe drinking water source. 83% of people have limited to zero access to a safe toilet facility. 94% of people have limited to zero access to a handwashing facility. The conditions in rural areas of Iganga District have led to a rise in illnesses like diarrhea and bilharzia due to poor sanitation and hygiene practices. The local government and other humanitarian organizations have tried to provide aid but their efforts have been unsuccessful due to corruption and mismanagement whereby those tasked to deliver services end up setting up low-standard hand-pump boreholes which dry out during the dry season. Meanwhile, the suffering is increased. Recently, an 11-year-old girl drowned in the water source her family is forced to use. It is over 5 miles round trip… with the return trip carrying full Jerrycans.

Problem Addressed

Meeting with the Elders, Iganga district

A lack of access to clean water in the rural areas, has not only led to the spread of waterborne diseases, but it has also greatly contributed to school dropouts for example lack of enough water at schools and underdevelopment of the area. The poor families also struggle with early pregnancies since girl children are forced to scramble for water from open wells, where they are either raped or even enticed in sexual conduct. Another major problem is the issue of sanitation, many families in the villages of Iganga district it has been observed that they do have very poor sanitation, example lack of water to wash hands after latrine use, lack of clean water to keep personal hygiene mostly for the girl child, lack of enough water for domestic use, etc. This has overwhelmed the families from the village to seek sources of clean water, and also to struggle to prevent waterborne diseases such as diarrhea, bilharzia, and cholera.

The main target group are the most underprivileged or vulnerable in the community, for example, children and youths, school children, women, the elderly, orphans and the poor rural homes in the 25 villages of the Iganga district. Perhaps a total number of about 15,000 mothers and children (More especially the girl child) shall directly benefit from the project with emphasis on the girl-child. The age group of 4-20 years, with an interest in reducing the long distances, traveled while in search of clean water for domestic use.

The picture above shows village elders with the administration, site engineer and the village Chairman after the meeting, Iganga district

Challenges

Being a village project, there are quite a lot of challenges that the organization will meet: i.e.;

● Lack of resources by the community to contribute towards the village clean water project. Families do lack water storage utensils due to poverty.

● Poor sanitation in the community. Remoteness and a poor road network.

● Land for borehole construction

Project Description

The project is aimed at the construction of 55 Hand pump boreholes in 25 most vulnerable villages of Iganga district with the essence that at least every village has 2 hand-pump boreholes in place. Out of the 55 boreholes, 6 Hand-pump boreholes are already completed in the first phase of this program.

The project will cover 25 villages from 5 sub-counties with a population of about 20,588 according as shown in the table below:

A community water source is very central to all and especially to women in the fight against poverty and equality. However, access to clean water in rural areas of Iganga district is low. And this is so, because of several reasons. The first cause is poverty itself. Reversing this situation through charity is of paramount importance for empowering the poor, children and their families.

Water Charity has planned to support vulnerable and poor families socially by providing a community clean water source. Our main intention is to empower families, communities, and vulnerable children and youths through this project with a good standard of living ensuring an improvement in sanitation and control of disease outbreaks.

Project Administration

The site engineer installing the metalic frame on top of the finished well

The village clean water project will be implemented by Okoa Hero’s Child Ministries as partners of Water Charity. With the availability of resources, the project shall be fully operational within 2 months and ongoing depending on the agreed donor time framework. The clean water source will be a man-dug well that will be fitted with a hand pump and converted into a borehole, hence turning the water source into a clean water source. Our target is that each of the 25 villages must have a fully functional 2 boreholes. The project will be carried out with direct support from the community, for example, the storage of equipment and the mobilization of community site activities. Every community member shall be entitled to contribute $0.27 per month in order to facilitate repairs, borehole staffing, and other activities such as sanitation of the water source and wastewater management.

Overall objectives

The overall objective of this project is to provide clean water to the 25 vulnerable villages in Iganga district. The specific objectives of the project are to improve sanitation;

● To increase the enrolment of children in school.

● To increase access to clean water for poor families.

● To change the standards of living of households and also improve household health. ● To improve community access to clean water and sanitation

Specific Objectives

●To enable poor families to access clean water.

● To provide the community with a clean water source.

● To allow children access clean water.

● To change the standards of living of the communities of people in the 25 villages.

● To promote good sanitation.

● To reduce the distance traveled by community members while in search of clean water.

Project Activities

A man dug well

This project includes different activities. These are selecting community meetings on advocacy for clean water, Construction and digging of the borehole. Provision of support to educate locals about sanitation, Constructing a 5000-liter tank water reservoir and Sensitizing children about water use mostly girls. Fencing of the borehole and planning for wastewater drainage and empowering poor families about means of storing water for domestic use.

● IDENTIFYING POOR FAMILIES IN BUKYAYE VILLAGE

The first activity of the project is the selection of beneficiaries. They will be selected from communities within Bukyaye village. A team from each community will be mobilized to make an objective selection of the poorest families in Bukyaye village. There shall be criteria to identify the most vulnerable from each of the communities in the 25 villages and the beneficiaries will be the most needy village of the community.

● DATA COLLECTION PER HOUSEHOLD.

The selected poor households will be supported through a data collection survey. During the data collection survey, we will find out which provisions need to be fulfilled for example water storage equipment, plate stale, clothing and medical expenses to enable us to design the best for them in our upcoming projects.

● PROVIDE SANITATION SUPPORT TO BENEFICIARIES.

Here the beneficiaries of this project, the poor households shall receive sanitation support including safe drinking water and skills of water storage and basic household sanitation.

● COMMUNITY MEETING (CONDUCTING MEETINGS ON WHERE TO PLACE THE BOREHOLE).

The community is the nearest body to the poor and vulnerable families and children and so they bear the responsibility to support and advocate for their collective well-being. To this end, therefore, there is a plan to conduct community representative meetings on where the man-dug well will be constructed and how to support the clean water project and care for the borehole at the community level. This will include what amount to be contributed, when to shut the water source and when to open it to the public.

● COMMUNITY MEETINGS ON ANNUAL BASIS ON HOW TO MAINTAIN THE BOREHOLE.

In order to support the village clean water project, sustainable provisions per activity have to be put in place so as to maintain the project and its objectives. To sustainably support the community, they will have to be empowered economically. To maintain the water source for different purposes like domestic use, agriculture and also animal grazing.

Monitoring and Maintenance

Mutebi Bashir(co-founder of Okoa) and Village Chairman during a recent hand-pump borehole set-up

Monitoring will be carried out on a regular basis throughout the project. The fieldwork desk has the responsibility of providing technical support, monitoring, and evaluation. The community shall be involved from the planning phase to hand over of the project.

The community shall be involved in the selection of poor families, monitoring and evaluation of the project. The funding agency shall also monitor, evaluate and receive the financial and physical accomplishment report.

The project will be subject to evaluation on a quarterly basis. However, day-to-day monitoring of its progress will be carried out by the Project Director and the Field officer and the beneficiary community members to ensure the attainment of the project goals. Quarterly reports are to be made to confirm the proper and effective use of resources received.

EXPECTED OUTPUT

The long-term output:

● The social welfare status of poor families improved.

Short term inputs

● Poor families have access to clean water on a daily basis.

● Improvement in sanitation and nutrition of poor families. Easy access to clean drinking water by children.

● Provision of water for domestic use. Presence of water for agricultural use.

Stressed mothers in Kasolo Villages in a village meeting
In this picture, we were engaging women and girls since they are our utmost beneficiaries

Project Funding

The funds for this program have been advanced by Water Charity. Each borewell averages out to about $2k and we intend to raise $110k for this program, your donation using this Donate button will ensure that we have funds available to accomplish this project. Kindly donate using the button below:

The site engineer installing a pipe during our last phase of launching the bore hole while the beneficiaries were eagerly waiting
The photo shows Our Beneficiaries enjoying the use of the rennovated Hand-pump bore hole in Bulamanji, Kasolo village
The above picture shows an example of a renovated Hand-pump borehole in Bulamangi Village, Iganga district

Tragic Loss of Life

A tragedy occurred at one of the villages supported by the Busoga Region Borehole Program project. On Friday, we received the devastating news that an 11-year-old girl named Nabirye Shaliwa had drowned in a nearby water well and lost her life. Our team was on site until the body was retrieved.

This is a heartbreaking reminder of why our mission to bring safe and clean water to communities in need is so important. It also underscores the urgency of our work and why we must continue to strive for success in this project.

FONI BREFET DISTRICT REHAB TOUR (PHASE 1) – The Gambia

FONI BREFET DISTRICT REHAB TOUR (PHASE 1) – The Gambia

Water For Everyone, Water For Everyone - The Gambia

FONI BREFET DISTRICT REHAB TOUR (PHASE 1) – The Gambia

WEST COAST REGION, THE GAMBIA 

Foni Brefet  is one of the nine districts  of  the Gambia, which is located to the south of the Gambia River in the southwest of the country. Foni Brefet is in the center of the region, between Kombo East and Foni Bintang-Karenai. This district is dominated by the Jola tribe and some Fula as well as Mandinka tribes. The vast majority of people in the district are subsistence farmers, growing groundnut, maize, and millet. It still keeps traditional tribal culture and it also serves as a source of typical Jola tribe history and traditional way of life. However, the district is prone to illegal deforestation, especially in rosewood among others. The area is also prone to wildfires and as a result, this has led to a scarcity of fresh drinking water. According to Global Forest Watch reports, in 2010, the district had 243ha of tree cover, extending over 1.7% of its land area. In 2021, it lost 225mha of tree cover, equivalent to 76.5t of CO2 emissions. In Foni Brefet District, the peak fire season typically begins in mid-February and lasts around 12 weeks. All these factors have made life harder for the indigenous tribes that live within the district especially when it comes to clean drinking water. The district also borders the Senegalese region of Cassamance which has been the center of separatist rebel conflict for four decades. As a result, it hosts hundreds of refugees which added more stress to the already alarming clean water crisis the district faces. 

This rehabilitation tour will give access to clean drinking water for 9,559 people directly. This will have a great impact on their health and social habitation in general. It will tremendously benefit women and girls as they bear the brunt of water collection within the household.  The work will also help all the people who visit or pass through the region, and the hundreds of Senegalese refugees that are currently located there.

This project is part of our ongoing Water For Everyone Intiative. WFE Gambia has been going for a number of years now and is on track to service every village and every well in the country on schedule.

  1. JALOKOTO VILLAGE 

 GPS: N13°12.393 W016°17.395 

Population: 1500 

4 stainless steel pipes with rods, new conversion head, pedestal, check-nuts, dewatering and sanitizing the well, and a hand washing station. The contractor will construct a new trough for the village ruminants to drink from, which will help the community economically.

 

  1. SOMITA VILLAGE VILLAGE 

 GPS: N13°12.299 W016°18.139 

Population: 1900  

2 Conversion heads, a new cylinder, a hand washing station, and new concrete round fencing. The contractor will construct a new water trough for the village ruminants to drink from, which will help the community economically. 

  1. NDEMBAN JOLA VILLAGE 

GPS: N13°10.931 W016°20.614 

Population: 450 

2 New cylinders, 2 conversion heads, 4 stainless steel pipes, concrete slab, and a hand washing station. The contractor will construct a new trough for the village ruminants to drink from, which will help the community economically.  

 

  1. BULLOCK VILLAGE 

GPS: N13°10.840 W016°24.752 

Population: 1800 

New cylinder, conversion head, concrete slab, 2 culverts, hand washing station, rod couplings. The contractor will construct a new trough for the village ruminants to drink from, which will help the community economically  

 

  1. BAJANA VILLAGE 

GPS: N13°11.260 W016°23.709 

Population: 850 

2 New cylinders, rod couplings (stainless steel),2 conversion heads, plus a hand washing station. The contractor will construct a new trough for the village ruminants to drink from, which will help the community economically 

 

  1. SUTUSINJANG VILLAGE 

GPS: N13°11.239 W016°23.157 

Population: 500 

New cylinder, conversion head hand washing station, rod couplings. The contractor will construct a new trough for the village ruminants to drink from, which will help the community economically  

  1. JAGIL VILLAGE 

GPS: N13°11.523 W016°22.109 

Population: 400 

New cylinder, conversion head, 5 stainless steel pipes, concrete slab, Re-digging and dewatering well, hand washing station. The contractor will construct a new trough for the village ruminants to drink from, which will help the community economically.

 

  1. BREFET VILLAGE 

 GPS: N13°14.845 W016°22.851 

Population: 750  

Conversion head, new cylinder, 1 culvert, hand washing station, new concrete slab. The contractor will construct a new water trough for the village ruminants to drink from, which will help the community economically. 

 

  1. NDEMBAN JAPIHUIM VILLAGE 

GPS: N13°12.210 W016°20.310 

Population: 450 

2 New cylinders, 2 conversion head, 1 stainless steel pipes, re-digging and dewatering of well, hand washing station. The contractor will construct a new trough for the village ruminants to drink from, which will help the community economically  

 

These projects range from around 50 cents per person served up to around 3 or 4 dollars. It depends on what exactly is wrong and what needs to be done. Contact us for detailed project costs.

It is possible to adopt a village well, even long-term. We do have an anonymous donor, though, who is likely to pay for all of these wells unless someone else steps up beforehand. Tours like this are ongoing. So, any funds collected in excess of the actual cost will roll over to the next village handpump tour in The Gambia. 

The timeline will be 2 or 3 weeks depending on the weather and local conditions, parts availability, etc.

The results will be as they always are with these projects.  The handpumps will be brought to full repair and provide their villages with clean water once again.  This, of course, will have numerous beneficial effects for the village.  Waterborne Illness will go down drastically with incidence of diarrhea falling to negligible levels.  The hours the women and girls of the village currently spend walking to distant water points will be used for other purposes, including allowing more girls to stay in school and get educations.  It will also result in a lot less deforestation… as people will no longer need to boil water from the rivers and streams.

The sustainability of these projects is insured as we are in contact with each of the village elders and if they should require our help in the future, they can alert us forthwith.  Furthermore, we try to instill ownership and responsibility for the water point in every village.  We gather the Water Use Committee and give them tips on preservation and maintenance of their handpump.  We also encourage them to collect and save a small amount of money for simple repairs.  Often if a pump fails the initial cost is an inexpensive grommet or bushing.  Left unchecked, the entire well fails and inevitably rust-out or otherwise requires a much more expensive intervention. Having the WFE B2B program ensures that we will always be available and hands-on in every village until such time as there are no villages doing without any longer.

This project has been finished. To read about the conclusion of the project, CLICK HERE.

Water for Everyone – Madagascar

Water for Everyone – Madagascar

Water For Everyone, Water For Everyone - Madagascar

Water for Everyone – Madagascar

Coming off recent success in The Gambia and Liberia, Water Charity is embarked on another Water for Everyone Project in Madagascar. We have been active in Madagascar from early on in WC history, having sponsored many dozens of projects in recent years and touched hundreds of villages. Our primary intervention there has been in the rehabilitation of broken wells first, and the drilling of new wells where necessary.

Madagascar is well-suited for a Water for Everyone Program. Only half the population has access to clean water and much of that population lies in rural communities. Most rely on subsistence farming and fishing for their livelihood. Forty-three percent of adults lack proper nutrition and forty-eight percent of children under five suffer from stunted growth. There have been other projects to address water availability in cities and larger villages, but the rural populations still have a long way to go, and this is where our focus lies.

The challenges are as varied as the mini continent that forms Madagascar. The center of the country is formed by mountainous highlands dominated by igneous basements, making the search for subsurface water quite difficult. The coasts are rimmed with sedimentary rock and carbonates and are slightly more conducive for water drilling. The north and east are largely semi-tropical while the south and southwest are arid. It seems that climate change has made conditions worse in the south where water is lacking even for agricultural purposes, and malnutrition and starvation are widespread.

Many attempts over the years have been made to mitigate the water problem. There are literally thousands of broken wells across the country that have fallen into disrepair. One objective of this project is to find and identify these wells, assess their potential, and design programs to put them back in service. Our partners, local residents of the various regions, are our force on the ground to collect these data points. Water Charity uses GIS data and our Geospatial analysis capabilities to identify needs, and gaps in infrastructure, and design specific and targeted programs to get water to those in need. It is expected the entire project could take a few years, but we are confident that all rural villages can be provided with at least one working well and given the skills to maintain them.

Our local Malagasy partners and The Madagascar Water Project (MWP), have extensive connections and knowledge about the country, the languages and dialects spoken, and are a key piece of the puzzle for this ambitious program.  We have worked with them for many years, drilling dozens of wells and repairing countless broken ones to provide clean water to thousands of people.  This program has begun along the east coast and will expand to include rural regions all over, with the goal of eventually including the entire county.  We will not deal with cities and the larger towns for this B2B effort, as there are existing infrastructure issues and the problems are entirely different. WFE Madagascar is solely focused on the rural villages, at least for now.

Goals and Methods of Water for Everyone

The Madagascar Water for Everyone Project is designed to achieve the goals of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 6.1 and the Plan Emergence Madagascar Priorate 29.

  • United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 6.1: By 2030, achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all. 
  • Plan Emergence Madagascar Priorite 29 – Garantirl’acces universal a l’eau potable (French is a main language for government there)

The Project combines the latest technology in satellite mapping with an extensive ground-based data collection effort.  The Program will conduct inventories and is documenting existing water infrastructure. We are assessing functionality and adequacy to the populations served and can thus identify under-served populations where they exist. Population data, water-related health data, agricultural and irrigation data, and water infrastructure and water quality data has been collected from local officials when available, and we will continue to work with these agencies as closely as we can.

All our projects (in this program and out) involve extensive documentation. Well location data is recorded using GPS-enabled devices, this data is combined with various survey and government-provided information and cross-referenced with other aid groups and NGOs. We have webpages put up regularly (see page bottom for links) and update them with new info and media from the field. While this is usually done with incredible speed, we can not always keep pages up to date in real-time and it may take us some weeks to post recent work.

Water Charity integrates population, infrastructure, health, and other data collected on the ground into Geographic Information System (GIS) map-based platform including ArcGIS and Earth Engine. This makes it possible to 1) identify and quantify gaps in water infrastructure; 2) design specific and targeted projects to improve clean water access 3) put them in a format that can be presented to potential sponsors and operators and 4) track their impact over time. Projects coming up include newly drilled wells, repair of existing wells, and the repairs, maintenance, and upgrades of a larger infrastructure. Some areas will be prioritized based on their specific needs. 

The Project began in the Region of Antsinanana and continues into other Regions of Madagascar on pace.

The Madagascar Water Project:  an overview

Since 2015, WFE Madagascar & the Madagascar Water Project have drilled about 200 water wells in about 80 rural villages, providing clean water to an estimated 100,000 people.  Starting around Antsinanana, the work has migrated to the south over time and the well drilling work can now be found as far south as Mananjary.  To aid in this effort, WC funded the purchase of a dedicated well drilling rig over the summer of 2022. This new rig can be expected to function for many years to come with minimal maintenance and should increase the ability of MWP and the WFE program to aid the people with new wells, deepening existing wells, and even clearing debris that has come to block wells that otherwise should be functional.

We have also started a well repair program in the drought-stricken south to fix some of the thousands of broken wells located there. These well repairs have been our bread and butter in the past. and will continue to be a major part of what we do there. After all, fixing a broken well is nearly always more efficient than drilling a new well and installing a brand-new handpump.

Like many of our partners around the world, MWP is small, lean, active, and impactful. The photo below was taken in 2018 during one of our joint ventures that included the village of Salehy. This is the same core group that has supported our Water for Everyone Program all along the way, and will continue to lead the way on the ground. (note their cool Water Charity T-Shirts).

Except for Director, Frederick Rittelmeyer (3rd from left above), who works as an unpaid volunteer, the entire staff is Malagasy. As the photo shows, they are quite proud of their association with Water Charity, and it has been mutually beneficial for all. The gentleman in the foreground, Hilaire Razandrafely is the MWP Project Manager for the Madagascar Water for Everyone Project. Photo, Salehy 2019.

The Madagascar Water Project drilled its first well in the village of Andovoranto in 2015. That well is shown in the photo left and is still working today. We remain committed to the villages it serves and provides maintenance training, repairs, and spare parts for its wells. If the well fails, which occasionally happens, the MWP drills replacement wells when needed.  Photo, Andovoranto 2015.

So far, WC has drilled most of its wells along the east coast, along an intra-coastal waterway known as the Pangalana Channel. To many, the area looks like paradise, but many villages had no access to clean water, which has a profoundly negative impact on the health of those living there. With the help of the MWP, the area at least has taken a small step forward into the 20th Century.

Due to the amenable conditions, we can use hand augers and slide hammers to build wells. In most cases, this takes only a few hours. Standard pitcher pumps are used and can produce at rates up to 25 liters/minute from depths to 7 meters.

The Project provides community-based water wells, managed by Well Management Committees. The MWP provides guidance but ultimately rules, hours, and fees (if any) are determined by the committee.

Effective self-management is key to sustainability and is often more difficult than drilling the well. The line between assistance and dependency is as thin and delicate as a piece of thread.

MWP Logistics

One of the biggest challenges working in Madagascar is logistics. Roads are in poor repair and often nonexistent even when they appear on a map. The Water for Everyone Project will have to overcome these challenges even more.  One can choose where to drill wells, but the mission of the Water for Everyone Project is to go everywhere.

MWP History

The first wells began drilling in the village of Andovoranto in 2015. The work migrated southward every year, eventually moving past the village of Mananjary in 2020.   

Water Charity believes that maintenance and repairs are as critical to the program as newly drilled wells. These long-term relationships are more efficient, and create less oversight and maintenance, and, in the end, leave the communities with better, more efficient, and equitable water management.

Well Repair Program in Southern Madagascar

In 2022 WFE Madagascar began a large well-repair program in southern Madagascar. The entire southern section of the country has suffered from extreme drought for more than 10 years. Not only does it affect water availability, but it has also caused widespread famine. Malnutrition and starvation are everywhere.

Thousands of water wells have been drilled there in the past few decades. Although most are now broken, some are still capable of being repaired to provide clean water, any water to those in need.

The map below shows the current area of focus in the District of Betroka.

Some wells are conventional Indian Pumps that need routine repairs or have been victims of theft such as the well below in Anabinda. 

Photo Anabinda 2022

Other broken wells exist as holes in the ground. The project has installed our conventional pumps onto these wells and successfully brought them back into production. They are used as much for agricultural purposes as they are for human consumption. Each well is saving lives and improving the quality of life for many.

The pumps are taken off each night to protect them from theft.

Water access is often a key component of famine. On a trip in February 2021, we deviated from our mission and distributed 350 kg of rice to a few villages that hadn’t eaten in weeks. The World Food Program, USAID, other NGOs, and the Madagascar Government have since come in to provide more assistance. 

Conclusion 

There is so much to do in Madagascar that a systematic, thorough, complete, and scientific approach is the best way to assess the needs, design solutions, and provide relief to the many millions still in need of clean water. The Water for Everyone Initiative is a significant move in that direction.

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List of Water Charity’s Past Madagascar Project Pages: 

13 water wells were drilled in six villages that now provide clean water to over 15,000 people. The project area is south of the Mangoro River (Salehy), through Masomeloka to Nosy Varika and beyond, moving into the remote area where the distal ends of the Regions of Antsinanana and Fianarantsoa meet. 

Built a community well at the school in Andrenilaivelo, a livestock and farming community of approximately 250 people located in the central highlands of Madagascar. 

Built 2 latrines at the primary school in the village of Amindratombo. Amindratombo is part of the community of Sahambavy, located in the southern highlands of Madagascar. The project will benefit 200 students. 

Build a well at the primary school in the village of Amindratombo. The well will be used to provide drinking water for the students. Amindratombo is part of the community of Sahambavy, located in the southern highlands of Madagascar. The project will benefit the 200 students plus indirect beneficiaries numbering about 1,500: 1,700 total. 

Repair and improve the well at the Maternity and Health Center in the community of Ansampanimahazo is located 9 km from its district Faratsiho in the northern highlands of Madagascar. The population consists of approximately 15,000 people spread across 12 villages.  

Build 4 wells in the Amboromana district of Vohemar, Madagascar. There are currently 360 families living in the area, with a population of 1,836 people. 

Purchase and install 1 water pump to expand the production of rice in the community. Morarano Chrome is a town and commune in the Eastern part of Madagascar. Over 150 people who work in the fields, and their families, will benefit from the project. 

Built 3 wells and 1 dam in three neighboring fokontanies (neighborhoods) of Anjiro: Mahatsinjo, Antanetibe, and Ambilobe. Anjiro is a rural community located in the central highlands of Madagascar. It has a population of about 15,000 people. 

Replace 1 broken handpump at the site with a sealed well lined with concrete rings, and an electronic pump for the Special Community Reserve of Analalava, a protected rainforest on the east coast of Madagascar, owned by the local community. This project immediately benefitted 150+ people and has since benefitted thousands of tourists. 

Build 2 new public latrines, with lined and displaced pits and ventilation. The facilities will be made available for use by the students and villagers.of Morarano, a rural village located 12 km southwest of the beach town of Foulpointe on the east coast of Madagascar. About 150 people live in the village center. However, the presence of an elementary school means 270 students come in from the surrounding hills on a daily basis: a total of 420 people. 

Build 1 public biogas toilet for the community that uses human waste as a valuable resource that can be converted into two products: (1) gas for cooking and (2) fertilizer. The project was located in the beautiful coastal community of Ambonivato, about 8 miles outside of Tamatave, the second largest city in Madagascar. Though it is close to the city, the village of 750 people is still a very poor and rural village. 

1 bathroom facility with 3 toilets, 3 urinals, and 3 sinks for Association Mitsinjo, an association of local guides.  Mitsinjo is located 2 km from the village of Andasibe, but its impact zone is much larger. It is the manager of the Torotorofotsy wetlands, a Ramsar site, as well as the Analamazaotra forest station. The facility will benefit the association through the 3,000+ tourists that visit annually. 

1 new, high-quality, composting latrine behind the clinic which can be used by all of the approximately 300 patients, health workers, nurses, and the doctor in Tsivangiana, a rice-farming and fishing village near the east coast of Madagascar. There is a major water sanitation problem, with a couple of stagnant streams used for everything from bathing, to washing clothes, to washing dishes, to collecting water for cooking and other household uses. 

1 new well in the village of Ambavala, located on the tropical and beautiful northeast coast of the island nation of Madagascar. This rather large village of nearly 300 people depends on only one well for all of their daily water needs.  

1 refurbished non-functioning well. Mahajoanivo is a small rural village in the Central Highlands of Madagascar. Mahajoanivo has 211 residents; most are farmers. 

Install 6 pumps in existing wells for use in 6 different cooperatives, including the rice cooperative, garden cooperative, and women’s gardening group, to irrigate their crops. The cooperatives are located in Anketrakabe, a village of approximately 1,200 people located 47 km from Diego. 

1 tree nursery to create food security, increase the available water supply, and provide economic benefits to the 300,000 people in Mandritsara, a city and commune in northern Madagascar. 

1 rainwater harvesting system and 3 systems to remediate flooding problems for the three largest dormitories on the Le Centre d’Accueil et de Transit des Jumeaux Abandonné (CATJA), an orphanage for 125 abandoned twin children. The orphanage is located in Mananjary, a seaside town in southeast Madagascar that is home to nearly 30,000 Malagasy whose livelihoods are very much integrated with their natural surroundings.  

5- Day Permagarden Staff and Volunteer Training and Training Design Creation; Peace Corps Madagascar requested assistance in the creation of a thorough Training Design and Evaluation Process that will guide the sustainable agriculture and nutrition security work of current and future Peace Corps Volunteers.  

13 wells provided to the 6 Fokotany (Villages) of Masomeloka, Antaniambo, Sohihy, Ampanotoana, Salehy, Andrianotsara, serving 15,000 people. 

1 shower facility to serve the Amporofor Clinic, which serves 12,543 people. Access to a shower with clean water and soap will reduce the risk of infection to the person, as well as reduce contamination by viruses and bacteria in the clinic area.  

Improve 4 wells, including the installation of 2 new pumps for Ambatomainty, a rural community of about 10,000 people located in the Alaotra Mangoro region, also known as the ‘rice basket’ of Madagascar. For water, families were long forced to rely on a river that has turned red from mud and erosion. 

1 well built between the local elementary school and the community center of Antsakoana, a small village south of the town Amparafaravola located in the Eastern part of Madagascar; well will benefit roughly 350 people. 

Improve 2 wells for the 1,000 people of Tsivangiana, who live along the east coast of Madagascar, separated from the Indian Ocean by about 20 kilometers of degraded rainforest. After the well broke, for the past three years the people have been fetching water from the stream.  

1 well and 1 new pump for a second well; the project recipient facility, Centre Hospitalier de District (CHD), benefits 2,000 people per month who attend the health facilities. 

2 wells were built for the village of Andonaka, located on the east coast of Madagascar, 12 km west of the commune and district capital Nosy Varika and accessible only by boat. No potable water exists for the 1,270 residents of Andonaka; all water is drawn from the Sakeleneoa River which also serves as a bath, laundry, and dishwashing source as well. 

1 well and a reconstructed aqueduct provided to the mountain town of Imito, located 224 km south of Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar. Zanabahona is one of the largest communities in Imito with a population of 2,300. Project conducted by Peace Corp Volunteer and local NGO. 

Purchase and installation of a water pump for use by the members of Fanilo, the local farmers association in Antsakoana, a small town north of the town Amparafaravola, located in the Eastern part of Madagascar. The project gave the water control needed for the planting of currently unused rice fields. The project benefitted 280 people who work in the fields and their families. 

1 well provided to Morarano, a rural village located 12 km southwest of the beach town of Foulpointe on the east coast of Madagascar. About 150 people live in the village center and 270 students come in from the surrounding hills on a daily basis: a total of 420. In a polluted pool, people bathe and wash laundry and dishes before taking the water home to cook and drink. The work was conducted by a school teacher with experience in digging lined latrines, a Peace Corps Volunteer, and a motivated health worker who lives in the village. 

3 wells built in three different communities in northern Madagascar, carried out under the direction of a Peace Corps Volunteer and a local NGO ARES, which has organized teams to build over 50 wells. The three towns are in the commune of Anjangoveratra, district of Sambava: Antanandava, Anamboafo, and Marolamba, with a total population of 3,419, and no wells. Residents have to get their water from rivers, streams, and even rice paddies, which are polluted by cow and human waste. Several deaths in the towns in the past year have been attributed to water contamination. 

 4 wells built in the Amboromana district of Vohemar, Madagascar, which has a population of 1,836 people. People have to fetch water from a very distant dirty river, or do without. Oversight of the well construction was undertaken by ARES, a local NGO and Sister Rosalie, a Malagasy local. 

5 wells improved in Anjangoveratra, which has a population of about 4,000. Project was overseen by a local health worker, the head of the women’s organization, as well as the Peace Corps Volunteer. 

2 wells built for 2,200 people, about 600 of them children under 5. There is a local primary public school and a local Antsikory Women’s Group. Most community members use the local stream to collect water. Many of the children in the village of Antsikory suffer from diarrheal diseases and schistosomiasis, a disease caused by infection with freshwater parasitic worms in certain tropical and subtropical countries. The project is overseen by Peace Corps Volunteer, in cooperation with the Women’s Group.

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In addition to our normal flow of well repairs, we have done this great work at Mandritsara hospital. Check out the details below:

Mandritsara Hospital

After drilling 40 meters of fractured volcanic rock, it was tested at 2500 liters/hour, the maximum capability with the testing equipment, and will be able to supply the hospital’s needs for years to come. A year ago, one of the surgeons there asked if we could help with their water problems. The municipal system goes dry for 4+ months each year and their private well can supply only 10% of their needs.

It’s difficult to do surgery and provide medical care in a fully functional hospital without enough water. The local and volunteer expat medical staff just grin and bear it, but their hands are already full living and practicing medicine in conditions long past in the modern world.  Their spirit and positive outlook are an inspiration to keep going.  Good News Hospital — Friends of Mandritsara Trust

Update on Mandritsara Hospital

The Madagascar Water Project just broke new ground by drilling a deep well in volcanic basalt, tapping into natural fractures to get water production. This is the first time the Project has drilled this deep, in this environment, using a drilling rig. 

We received a request from the Good News Hospital — Friends of Mandritsara Trust for help with their annual water shortage. The municipal system in Mandritsara, a village of 30k people, feeds off a river that goes dry every year. The hospital has two wells that provide some relief but it is only 1/10th the volume normally needed. The hospital is expanding and needs reliable water supplies year-round. 

The Project conducted field geology studies and used a geophysical study made by the hospital at the time of its initial construction in the 1990’s to identify a prospective location. The initial hole had to be abandoned at 11m due to a stuck pipe, but the second hole was successfully drilled to 40m without problems. The well tested 2500 liters/hour, which was the limit of the testing equipment, but it is likely capable of producing at twice that rate. The well is located in a rice field adjacent to the hospital complex and a 600-meter pipeline will tie it into their existing water system.

Check out the video below related to this project:

Ebeye Water Filter Distribution—The Marshall Islands 

Ebeye Water Filter Distribution—The Marshall Islands 

Water For Everyone, Water For Everyone - Marshall Islands

Ebeye Water Filter Distribution—The Marshall Islands 

This project has been completed. To read about the beginning of the project, CLICK HERE.

Since 2021, Water Charity has partnered with and supported Kora in Okrane (KIO), a non-profit charitable organization in the Marshall Islands, which in July 2018 launched an initiative to provide every single household, school, and dispensary in the outer islands with SAWYER Point One Water Filter Systems. 

Water Charity is one among a number of partners that have been supporting the KIO’s initiatives including the United Nations Development Program and GEF Program, RMI government, SDG Committee, Ministry of Health and Human Services, Ministry of Natural Resources and Commerce, Environmental Protection Authority, and Women United Together Marshall Islands.

Since 2018, KIO distributed filters to all the outer Islands. Its partnership with Water Charity will help KIO reach the last urban areas in the Marshall Islands. In 2021, the last remaining areas left to distribute water filtration systems were Majuro and Ebeye.

After completing Majuro, KIO started Phase 2 with the Launch of the Ebeye Component. Ebeye has 10,000 residents and is the second most populated jurisdiction in the Marshalls. The team from Majuro joined members on Ebeye for a week in early March, to train the women volunteers and conduct community consultations.

It was serendipitous timing because, on April 19th, 2022, the Ebeye Hospital Syndromic Surveillance reported of a diarrheal outbreak. The laboratory department confirmed the presence of  Entamoeba Cysts (E‐cysts): a microscopic parasite that spreads through human feces and causes diarrhea, nausea, and weight loss.

A landmark child nutrition survey in 2017 by the Republic of Marshall Islands and UNICEF found serious malnutrition among Marshallese children, with stunting prevalent among one‐in‐three children, with links to poor sanitation and lack of clean water. Ebeye is known to be one of the most compactly populated places with no clean and safe water where waterborne diseases have been a pervasive threat.

The project allowed the distribution of water filters to eleven villages. Household-level surveys, as well as community-wide consultation and training, were conducted prior to distributing the filters.

Ang Metrei Primary School Bathroom Project – Cambodia

Ang Metrei Primary School Bathroom Project – Cambodia

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Ang Metrei Primary School Bathroom Project – Cambodia

This project is made possible through the partnership of Water Charity and the National Peace Corps Association.

This is a project under the LET GIRLS LEARN Program, a collaboration of First Lady Michelle Obama and the Peace Corps to expand access to education for girls around the world!

Location
Rolaing Kruel Commune, Samrong Tong District, Kampong Spue Province, Cambodia

Community Description
Surrounded by a health center, pagoda, and market, Ang Metrei Primary School is located in the heart of the village. Due to its location, and its easy accessibility from the main road, Ang Metrei Primary School has the largest number of students in the entire commune.  Six large villages that surround the school send their children there. The school is constantly alive with students learning in the mornings and afternoons. When school is not in session, children can be seen running around, and playing games such as soccer and “lot kawsaou” (jump over the rubber band). In this game you can find students, especially young girls, flying through the air as they try to jump over a long braided rubber band at different heights.

Problem Addressed
Ang Metrei Primary School is located in the heart of the village and despite the constant heavy flow of foot traffic, there is no clean area for teachers or students to relieve themselves.

Currently the school has two latrines for the whole school. These latrines are falling apart and are nearly unusable. Every day, teachers and students have to carry buckets of water from a faraway well, about 100 meters from the latrine, to fill the cisterns in the bathrooms. Since this is labor-intensive, often enough the latrines are left without water, making their use quite difficult. This creates a situation ripe for open defecation, and this induces fear in teachers and students, especially females.

Since there is no clean bathroom available with clean water to use, teachers and students will limit the amount of water they consume while at school.  In doing so they hope to suppress any urge they may have to use the bathroom while at school. This is very dangerous because long-term dehydration is damaging to health. Especially in Cambodia, where the heat can become intolerable, teachers and students need to make sure they are regularly hydrating. During the hotter months (March-May) an increase in the number of young women and children can be seen going to the private clinics for IVs because of dehydration.  The opportunity of spreading disease and illness is increased by the lack of clean running water.

Due to its inconvenience, students will not wash their hands on a regular basis, ultimately creating an easy environment for illness and disease to spread.  Open defecation, combined with the lack of an area to properly clean up, creates an easy facilitator for the oral-fecal route, which further leads to dangerous dehydration.

Project Description
This project is to build new, sanitary restroom facilities for the Ang Metrei Primary School.  It will include a large water tank, and handwashing stations.

Construction will begin by digging a 5-meter square pit that is 2.5 meters deep.  The latrines will be built upon the first 3 meters of this pit. The remaining 2 meters will hold the main waste cement container that will be hand-constructed with clay bricks and cement.  The first 3 meters of the pit will contain three 1 x 1 x 1-meter handmade brick boxes. These boxes will receive the initial waste that is gravity flushed from the toilets and flows through a 100-millimeter pipe into the main waste tank located within the pit directly behind the latrines.

The main waste tank will be 2 m long x 5 m wide x 3 m high. The tank will be hand-made by contractors using clay bricks and cement.  The tank will have an excess of 0.5 meters above ground to allow for a metal door to be created on top of the main waste tank to allow easy access for waste to be pumped when full.

The latrine structure, which will all be constructed from clay bricks, will be created over the first 3 meters of the pit. The dimension of the whole latrine structure, with its three stalls, is as follows: The width of the floor is 5 meters, the height of the structure is 3 meters, the width of the roof 5.6 meters, and the depth from the front of the structure to the back is 3 meters. The walls and floors of each latrine will be covered in porcelain tile. This will allow for easier cleanup after every use. The toilets will be porcelain squat style and each bathroom will have a cistern.

On the entrance side of the latrine structure, two sinks will be installed, one on the left wall and one on the right wall. These two sinks will be made of durable metal to guarantee longevity. The location of these sinks is key because it is easily visible from the bathroom stall. As soon as teacher and students exit the stall they will see a sink for them to use.

The sinks will be adhered to the walls with a combination of glue, screws, and cement.  The roof of the latrine structure will consist of a flat surface made from cement in order to create a sturdy base on which the 2,000-liter water tank will rest. This tank will be made from durable metal. Water from the tank will be gravity fed through 21-millimeter pipes into the latrines and sinks.

The 2,000-liter tank will be replenished by a private water supply. The school is in the beginning stages of installing plumbing to receive running water from this company. The private company cleans and uses the water from the nearby river. The water pressure from the water plant is strong enough to pump water into the tank. All that will be needed is to install a valve on the 21-millimeter pipe leading to the tank from the pipes, installed before the start of the project.  The water company has promised to install the plumbing into the school for free before the start of the project. This guarantees that teachers and students will have continuous access to water in the latrines and sinks.  Nonetheless, the water from the water plant is not potable. It is however safe for common everyday use.

The school, at this time, has water filters, given by USAID, in each of its classrooms for the teachers and students to use. These filters have not been as beneficial as they could be because everyone that attends the school limits the amount of water they drink in a day because they do not want to have to use the bathroom while at school. By constructing latrines with continuous access to running water, teachers and students will not only feel comfortable using the bathrooms, but this will encourage proper hydration while at school. Lastly, the installation of the sinks will further encourage students to practice proper hand-washing techniques. Teachers will help reinforce this practice by holding hand-washing workshops in their respective classes.

Project Impact
This project will directly impact 619 people, including 600 students ranging from the ages of six to twelve years of age and 19 teachers on staff.  This project will also impact visitors and future students and staff.

Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Giselle Campos

Monitoring and Maintenance
This project will be monitored and maintained by the PCV as well as teachers, parents and community members.

Comments
This project is part of our Let Girls Learn Initiative.

Young women and children are the most vulnerable when dealing with issues related to water and sanitation. For young boys, urinating in public is a common practice. However, for young girls urinating in public is highly frowned upon. For this reason, girls will limit the amount of water they will drink in a day because they are afraid of having to use the bathroom when away from home. This action promotes dehydration, which is very dangerous in a country with a hot tropical climate. IVs in the arms of young women are too commonly seen in Cambodia. While talking with one of the doctors at a local private clinic he said that the most common reason why his female patients come to seek his care are for symptoms related to dehydration. With the implementation of this project, a clean and safe space for young girls to use the bathroom while they are at school will be created. In doing so their health and wellness will increase, while ultimately decreasing absences from school due to symptoms related to dehydration.

PCV Volunteer, Giselle Campos states that, “Ang Metrei Primary School holds a special place in my heart. Every Sunday you can see me with at least 10 kids playing a pick up game of soccer. This has become something special that my kids look forward to at the end every week. My favorite moment had to be when I first met seven-year-old PoPo at the school. She was a very shy girl who would hide away from playing team sports. After countless encouragement, and a little footwork she now dominates our games with poise and ease. Who knows, maybe we will see her in the future SEA Olympics.”

Dollar Amount of Project
$2,100

Donations Collected to Date
$0

Dollar Amount Needed
$2,100

ADOPT THIS PROJECT BY CONTRIBUTING THE DOLLAR AMOUNT OF THE PROJECT.
Donations of any amount will be appreciated. The full amount will allow you a posted dedication, if that is something you would like.

Odropi Well Project – Uganda

Odropi Well Project – Uganda

Disaster Relief

Odropi Well Project – Uganda

Location 

Odropi, Yumbe, Uganda

This project has been completed.  To read about the conclusion, scroll down below.

Community Description

Odropi is adjacent to Yumbe, Uganda. It has 400 households, and 2000 residents, but little potable water, sanitation, or hygiene. At least two residents died of dysentery in September 2019. The community is on the border with South Sudan and 15 miles from Bidi Bidi refugee camp, a camp with 270,000 refugees. The area is deforested and suffers low production and low incomes. 

Problem Addressed 

Description of Problem: Contaminated water, low latrine coverage,  lack of handwashing facilities, one latrine for 247 children and staff, inadequate food availability, malaria, large refugee population that results in deforestation produce a high incidence of diarrheal diseases and death, pneumonia deaths, and malarial disease and deaths. Over-population results in low food production and inadequate income. Severe protein-calorie malnutrition is frequently observed. 

Project Description

Working with the community and collaborating agencies, installing well with a submersible pump and solar power, latrines for the school, handwashing facilities, complete latrine coverage in the community, stopping malaria, increasing coverage of fuel-efficient stoves, and increasing food production or income generation. 

The problems:

  • 64% of clinical visits malaria
  • 30% respiratory infections
  • 3% diarrhea
  • 3% malnutrition

Community Organization: CCEDUC

Project Impact

2,000 people will benefit from the project 

Project Administration

This project will be managed by Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Chris Roesel. The project will be implemented with CCEDUC Child Development, an organization that supports orphans and vulnerable children, vulnerable women, and marginalized communities in Yumbe district and beyond. Work will be done with the community and collaborating agencies. 

Monitoring and Maintenance

A baseline study was done. An evaluation will be conducted with a DHS survey subset questionnaire evaluation. Chris will plan for maintenance of the facilities in on-going community meetings. He will monitor the progress of the work for the month he is on-site, then follow-up with the CCEDUC director, Ajaga Buran Innocent, and his National Pediatrics Hospital collaborator, Dr. Brian Nzano. One of his collaborators is an international community involvement consultant, Dr. Charles Pendley, who will advise him on additional ways to follow up. 

Project Funding

This project is being paid for through fundraising by Chris, together with the Water Charity and the National Peace Corps Association.

If you like this project, please make a general donation to Water Charity so we can continue to support great projects like this one in Uganda.

Comments 

Zakia Ayiko said, 

“I would like to thank our donors for rescuing thousands of lives of people in this community of Odropi Village through the construction of shallow wells and latrines. I am very happy to pump this  clean water which will help us live in healthier lives. Previously, the only source of  water  we had was from the  stream which led to the spread of waterborne diseases. Recently, we lost a woman to typhoid in this village. 

Thank you so much for thinking about our vulnerable communities. 

Be blessed.” 

Success story from Faida Bint  

I wish to thank  individual donors for bringing this water source nearer to us and helping to stop water-born diseases in our community. I am very excited  to pump it. Before we used to buy water, moving about 3 to 4 kms looking for water  and at times fetching water from the open wells.  

Success story from Ajiba Adraki  

Since I was born I did not use a latrine my latrine was bush. And the same for my neighbors. I am very happy that you  have put 100%  latrine coverage in this village. Thanks to our donors for rescuing our life,  my latrine is well  constructed with no  smell and a tippy tap installed.

Let Girls Learn 

Water for Everyone – The Marshall Islands

Water for Everyone – The Marshall Islands

Water For Everyone, Water For Everyone - Marshall Islands

Water for Everyone – The Marshall Islands

The Republic of the Marshall Islands

The Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) comprises a series of 29 coral atolls and five islands in the Pacific just north of the equator. This tiny republic of some 53,000 inhabitants has major water supply challenges, particularly on the two main islands, Majuro (28,000 people in 970 ha at 6.8 people per household) and Ebeye, (10,000 people in 40 ha at 8.4 people per household).

The Marshall Islands were a Spanish colony until they became a German protectorate in the late 1800s. During WWI, Japan occupied the Marshall Islands. After the war, Germany was forced to renounce all of its Pacific possessions, including the Marshall Islands. In 1920, the League of Nations approved the South Seas Mandate for Japan to take over all former German colonies in the Pacific. During WWII, in 1944, The United States invaded and occupied the islands. Following capture and occupation by the United States, the Marshall Islands, along with several other island groups located in Micronesia, passed formally to the United States in 1947.

From 1946 to 1958, the early years of the Cold War, the United States tested 67 nuclear weapons at its Pacific Proving Grounds located in the Marshall Islands. In 1956, the U.S. Atomic Energy commission regarded the Marshall Islands as “by far the most contaminated place in the world.” In 1979, the Government of the Marshall Islands was officially established and the country became self-governing. With climate change, rising sea levels are now threatening the islands. 

RMI’s Water Problems

For the Republic of Marshall Islands (RMI) as a whole, the supply of natural freshwater is severely limited. The primary source of freshwater is rain which (due to the low elevation of the atolls and islands) soaks directly into the soil and disperses into saltwater which permeates atoll subsoils. In some favorable locations some of the freshwater may accumulate and float on the saltwater below and can be accessed with wells. The major issues and concerns related to overall water management in the RMI are insufficient quantity. Various studies have identified that Majuro’s current 36.5 million gallon reservoir capacity as insufficient and should be doubled in order to help meet growing demand.

The two main water utilities, MWSC on Majuro and Kajur on Ebeye, continue to face great challenges in delivering quality water and services on a consistent and reliable basis. Contamination and pollution are real and present threats to water resources everywhere, including in the water systems, in the groundwater (especially in urban areas), in household catchments, and in coastal areas. For Outer Island households, the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) has dramatically increased its water quality testing in recent years and has revealed that a high percentage of home water catchments are contaminated, this also is the case in the urban centers. This, in turn, supports the data that show a high and increasing prevalence of water-borne diseases.

Contaminated Water & Health Outcomes

Recent surveys by EPA states high levels of contamination in water catchments across many outer island communities and while methods of treatment are taught at the household level, many are still drinking water straight from the source. As a result, Gastroenteritis is rampant in the Marshall Islands and is the third leading cause of hospital visits for children under the age of 5. Similarly, the RMI has seen outbreaks of Cholera, Typhoid, and Conjunctivitis in the recent past yet little national effort has been made to address and improve water quality in the RMI for both urban and outer island communities.

Water Charity Partners with Kora in Okrane

Water Charity has partnered with and supported Kora in Okrane (KIO), a non-profit charitable organization in the Marshall Islands, which in July 2018 launched an initiative to provide every single household, school, and dispensary in the outer islands with SAWYER Point One Water Filter Systems.

Water Charity is one among a number of partners that have been supporting the KIO’s initiatives including the United Nations Development Program and GEF Program, RMI government, SDG Committee, Ministry of Health and Human Services, Ministry of Natural Resources and Commerce, Environmental Protection Authority, and Women United Together Marshall Islands.

Since 2018, KIO distributed filters to all the outer Islands. Its partnership with Water Charity will help KIO reach the last urban areas in the Marshall Islands: the last remaining areas left to distribute water filtration systems are Majuro and Ebeye.

This project has been finished. To read about the conclusion of the project, CLICK HERE.

Donate to the WFE Marshal Program. Picture contains link to donate page.
Passy Chally Village and Health Clinic Solar-Powered Water Project—The Gambia

Passy Chally Village and Health Clinic Solar-Powered Water Project—The Gambia

Water For Everyone, Water For Everyone - The Gambia

Passy Chally Village and Health Clinic Solar-Powered Water Project—The Gambia

Houja smiles as she finally gets her bucket full of water–even though the water is un-healthy to drink.

Passy Chally Village, Upper Niumi District, North Bank Region, The Gambia. West Africa; GPS Coordinates: N13°29.983   W016°17.443

DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT COMMUNITY

Passy Chally is a community situated about 4 Kilometers south of Ndungu-Kebbeh via the North Bank Trans-Gambia highway. About 1300 people live in the community, which consists of 51 households. The community is made up of the Wollof tribe clan called the ‘’FanaFana’’. They are subsistence farmers growing groundnut, millet and maize. The community is also very popular with traditional Wollof singers called ‘’Guewel.’’ They still practice ancient Wollof traditional singing.

The community has a health post/clinic that serves 8 villages within the Upper Niumi District. It also has a primary school. Although a few decades ago the community didn’t embrace western education, with the availability of a school in the community significant progress has been made in the enrollment of boys and girls. More work needs to be done still, especially in the area of girls’ enrollment.

Astou is in grade 6. She just got home from school and is now heading to the wells to get water with her book in her hand. She is determined to study even though she had to wait in the queue reading her book

DESCRIPTION OF PROBLEM

The community is entirely dependent on three open wells that they use for drinking and other household activities. These wells normally run dry within hours. People have to make long queues just to have some amount of water from the unsafe open wells. The rate of diarrhea and other water related illnesses has grown significantly, according to Madam Mariama Jallow, the Senior Nurse in charge of the community health post/clinic. Hardly a day goes by without an infant getting sick from water-borne diseases, she said. At times, the diarrhea cases are dire enough that she has no option but to refer the patients with serious dehydration issues to the Regional Health Center in Kerewan, which is about 30 KM away. Acute dehydration is also common in the community, as well as other illnesses related to the shortage of water and its poor quality, especially in the rainy season–coupled with malaria.

The community’s health post offers services such as Family Planning, HIV/AIDS counselling and services, Tuberculosis treatment, Reproductive and Child Health services, and immunization, among others. The clinic covers 8 villages and the yearly turnout is about 13,000 people. The clinic does not have any water supply. The nurses get to the open wells to fetch a few buckets of water in order to carry out their services. Much of the time the wells run dry and the clinic cannot offer services. Patients often suffer as a result. Nurses have to dip into their own pockets to buy a few bottles of gas to boil or disinfect the water and even equipment for fear of contamination or cross infection among patients. This creates huge delays in their work–endangering all of the clinic’s patients.