Water Charity

Garrison reports:

This was by far the most fun I have had installing a rope pump. Firstly, taking a boat through the mangroves to get to the site just sets everything up to feel like an adventure. The villagers were enthusiastic and welcoming, the weather was beautiful and everything went just about as perfectly as it could possibly go.

We started the process like usual with the well cap. We were initially really worried because the sunny morning quickly turned into massive thunderstorms and our cement got caught in the rain. Luckily the clouds parted and we were able to just mix it up really quickly before it set.

We came back a week later for the install, and apart from some logistical problems with catching our boat (we were at the wrong dock), everything went off without a hitch. Lamine, the Toubacouta producer, took charge of everything. He organized the village, mounted the pump, glued the pipe, and threaded the rope. We mostly just sat around taking pictures. This might sound like laziness but in reality we just weren’t needed, and that’s exactly how it should be. Lamine has become a fantastic producer and an expert on this system. He knows it inside and out, can troubleshoot just about any problem, and keeps making improvements to the design with every pump.

Less than an hour after we started the install, we were done, and as you can see, this pump is one of our most efficient ever.

The village thanked us in the usual fashion, handshakes, invitations for lunch and tea, and of course a promise to come and visit each other in the future. As we were leaving, Lamine said we needed to make one stop at another person’s house. It turns out that he had sold a pump to an individual household on the island and it was having some problems. He quickly made a few adjustments and then it was working great once again. This little tune up was free of charge. That’s just the kind of guy Lamine is. He’s also the kind of guy who wears a Winnie the Pooh hat.

Pump Output: 43 Liters/ Min

Total Number of People Benefiting: All 35 women who work in the garden along with their families will benefit from increased watering capacities.

Funder: We are still seeking funds for this project.

This project was to create a fruit tree nursery to facilitate the growing of reforestation trees. The trees were to be planted in the mountains and at the source of water to protect the water supply for the participating communities.

PCV Saver reports:

The goals and objectives of this project were to create a locally run fruit tree nursery that would be maintained by a group of community members. These members would control all aspects of maintaining of the nursery as well as the management of the affairs of the nursery up to the selling of the trees to other community members.

The members of this group cleared the land, put up the fence, found the seeds, filled bags with dirt in which they planted the seeds, watered all of the trees, checked for pests, and told other community when the different types of trees were ready for sell.

The project built capacity by training 7 workers in the skills necessary to start and run a fruit tree nursery as well as raising awareness among the community of the benefits of planting fruit trees in their houses and farms. The workers learned skills such as how to germinate and successful plant different types of trees, how to care for seedlings, how to perform different grafting techniques, and how to work as a group to begin a small business.

The community members will be able to use their learned skill of grafting to continue to graft the trees in the nursery as they come of age and will have the ability to continue to germinate and plant seeds in the nursery. The group will be able to cover recurring costs by putting a percentage of the profits they receive from selling the trees into a fund for the nursery.

The project achieves its ultimate objectives over time, when the seedlings are planted and serve the various functions of protecting the water source and improving land use by preventing erosion, and increasing availability of healthful produce in the marketplace.

Location
Sippo, Fatick, Senegal

Community Description
As you can probably tell by the pictures the village of Sippo is an Island village. It is located about 15 k into the delta off the coast of Toubacouta. The main source of income for the villagers comes from fishing and oyster collection, but they also participate in some small-scale farming and gardening activities. Culturally this is one of the most diverse villages we’ve ever worked in. They have Wolof, Serere, Mandinkan, and Pulaar families all living together in this remote community.

The village is a beautiful oasis surrounded by mangroves and forest located just outside of the Bamboung wildlife reserve. The village contributes to the preservation of the area and helps to run an eco-lodge called Keur Bamboung. If you’re ever in the area check it out. It is one of the true gems of Senegal.

Project Description
Living on an Island is beautiful but it presents certain problems. Everything not directly pulled from the ocean is scarce here. That includes building supplies, medicines, staple foods like rice and millet, and also fruits and vegetables.

There is one women’s garden on the island which provides some food for the village, but production is not very efficient and with only one well, it is difficult to pull enough water for all the women who work there to water their individual plots.

We will be installing a rope pump on this well in order to increase their watering capacities so that they can produce more vegetables, leading to better self-sufficiency on the island.

Project Impact
All 35 women who work in the garden, along with their families, will benefit from increased watering capacities.

Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Garrison Harward

Comments
This is an important project which will have a significant impact on the health and wellbeing of the people on the island.

Dollar Amount of Project
$150.00

Donations Collected to Date
$0.00

ADOPT THIS PROJECT BY CONTRIBUTING $150.00

$150.00 (our new price, which includes labor) will give you "naming rights". You can name it after yourself or your family. You can dedicate it in honor or in memory of someone.

For a $500 donation, your name will be acknowledged on the program page for 52 Pumps in 52 Weeks Program - Senegal.

If you wish to give a smaller amount, to be applied to the overall program, you may do so.

Any contributions in excess of the Dollar Amount of Project will be allocated to other projects directed by these PCVs and/or projects of other PCVs in Senegal.

Dollar Amount Needed
$150.00

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

Location
Brikama Lefaya, Dankunku District, Central River Region-South Bank, The Gambia

Community Description
Brikama Lefaya is a small ethnic Fula community home to 39 villagers from 3 households. Villagers depend on traditional coos and groundnut (peanut) farming and cattle-rearing for their subsistence livelihoods. However, the area is extremely poor, with malnutrition highly prevalent and sickness common. Because of the tiny size of the village, it has often been overlooked by government and outside agencies for development projects. As such, the village is largely marginalized and under-served, even by Gambian standards.

Of the village children, more than half of them exhibit symptoms of kwashiorkor from protein deficiency, and skin infections from poor personal hygiene practices are common. Overall food security is highly unstable, as crop harvests depend on unpredictable rain. In addition, while village women traditionally tended to riverside rice fields during the rainy season, they have abandoned their plots a few years ago due to saltwater intrusion.

In response to these growing malnutrition challenges, the village is slowly but surely starting to diversify its food sources. Jaye Jallow, one of the villagers, has worked with Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Jeremy Mak since early 2011 to establish a wood lot, plant a supply of nutritious moringa and pigeon pea trees, start a fruit tree nursery, and inter-crop numerous cashew trees for future income generation and enhanced food security.

In April 2012, the village also started a small women's garden to supplement their diets. The replacement of an old Mark II handpump with a new Dutch Bluepump from a Water Charity project earlier this year help increased Lefaya's water security and the community's ability to support its gardens and tree nursery. However, Lefaya still has a long way to go in strengthening their livelihoods and securing options for a better future.

Project Description
This project seeks improve irrigation, water storage, and drainage in Brikama Lefaya village.

Firstly, with no access to running water, collecting water is an everyday, persistent burden for villagers who depend solely on a manual handpump for their domestic and gardening water needs. Specifically, this burden rests mostly on the shoulders of women and girls, those traditionally responsible for fetching water.

Distributing water to vegetable plots and tree saplings is another difficulty. The construction of a cement and plastic pipe water distribution system will cut down the time that villagers toil watering the community's two gardens. Both are used to grow vegetables like tomato, onion, cabbage, pepper, pumpkin, roselle, eggplant, moringa, and pigeon pea, among other crops for village consumption. One of the gardens also includes an extensive tree nursery of gmelina, mahogany, mango, tamarind, orange, and papaya.

This project will construct a network of concrete reservoirs: one will receive water from the handpump and distribute it through pipes to two outlying reservoirs, one in each garden. This will significantly reduce the wait time and hardship of pumping and carrying water to each garden, giving women and girls more time to spend on other tasks. Moreover, creating a better watering system will increase the chances of higher and quicker yields, producing more food for consumption and better household nutrition.

Secondly, this project seeks to improve water storage for animal husbandry. Currently, one trough collects water from an aqueduct fed by the handpump. The trough is filled by some of the village boys every afternoon to water the cows the community tends as they return from their grazing areas by the river. At this point in the river, the water is saline, so the cows cannot drink from it.

The cows are watered only once a day from this handpump and trough. However, the trough can only hold a certain amount of water. When the thirsty cows come, they quickly empty the filled trough. The boys usually fill the trough once before women beginning watering their beds--Cow watering time is the same time that women and girls water the gardens.

When the trough is emptied, the boys need to pump to refill it a second time for the cows. As cattle are the property of men, watering the cows is seen as a priority over the women's need to water the gardens, which they own. So, the women must wait when the boys need to pump again, and then wait for each individual woman to fill her pails and pans for water—a hugely inefficient use of time.

This project will double the holding capacity of the trough by building a concrete extension so the women won't have to compete with cows for water.

Thirdly, this project aims to build 3-5 concrete showering platforms. The adults bathe themselves in reed-screened areas behind mud houses. But these areas have no flooring, so the used water pools, creating an unsafe environment for algae and bacteria. Creating concrete floors with re-bar supports and soak-away drains will give villagers more comfortable and hygienic places to shower.

Should any funds be left over, we will also construct a privacy wall for children to shower closer to the well. Children usually bathe themselves next to the well, but since there is no privacy wall, they feel exposed to passerby on the road. As a result, they shower quickly and improperly, contributing to common skin diseases. Giving children a proper bathing area will give them more dignity and allow them to better clean themselves.

Project Impact
39 people in Brikama Lefaya Village will directly benefit from the project. The site will serve as a model for more than five villages from which they can get inspiration and ideas for possible water and sanitation improvement projects.

Comments
This is a critical project for the villages, utilizing the most basic repairs to improve water distribution, sanitation, and hygiene.

To make a contribution for this project, please click the Donate button below.

Marcie reports:

The Salemata pump installation was supposed to be the second of the day, but turned out to be the only one. The night before the installation, in a fluke accident I dropped my phone in the toilet and could not contact the team or Missy (the volunteer in Salamata). When I woke up I knew the day would be a difficult one, just based on communication and my missing phone.

Everyone in the installation team planned to start the day at 8 am so that we could get the work done by 6 pm, but when we arrived at the meeting spot we found the car to be in disarray. The hood was up, the engine was smoking, the battery was oozing a silvery white substance and the driver was nowhere to be found. I instantly thought our plans were shot, but then the driver appeared with a small car and a rope ready to tow the big truck to the mechanic. Once again, I did not think there would be a possibility for this tiny car to tow the big truck, but it worked. Senegal is consistently amazing.

An hour later the truck was moving and the team was in high spirits. I still had no way of contacting Missy. Therefore I was a bit worried that we would arrive and not find Omar Mballo, the Master Farmer. When we reached the house Omar and Missy were waiting for us, they got in the car, and we rode to the farm site.

From there everything went smoothly. We joked and laughed. The mood was lovely despite the hot sun and in an hour’s time the pump was up and running.

By the time we got back into the car to head home everyone was incredibly tired and 5 minutes into the ride I looked around to see the closed eyes of all the technicians.

Pump Output: 39 Liters/ Min

Total Number of People Benefiting: 11 people, plus trainees, plus consumers of farm products.

Funder: We are still seeking funds for this project.

This project was to build a new water tank for the communities of El Tablon, Los Fuentes and Agua Zarca in the town of Sunsulaca.

Elsa reports:

I am happy to let you know that with the help of Water Charity, the Proyecto Comunitario de Agua Potable (Community Potable Water Project) of Sunsulaca has completed their project goal of constructing a new water tank to provide running, potable water to the entire community of Sunsulaca, Cacaopera, Morazán, El Salvador.

Construction on the project started in early October, after receiving various donations of materials, and Water Charity funds to purchase the rest the materials. A skilled contractor was hired to direct the community members who provided the labor.

A group of men from the community met daily to work under direction of the contractor, quickly constructing a 186-barrel water tank. They also built a retaining wall, which will protect against future erosion.

The entire community is now receiving sanitary, potable water in 3-hour periods per sector every day from the new tank.

The directive of the water committee has asked me to convey their great appreciation and gratitude to Water Charity for the support they lent to this project. Water Charity funds allowed this community to quickly and efficiently complete the construction of this tank, a project that they have been trying to accomplish since 2011, but had never been able to accomplish, due to lack of funds. Now, all of Sunsulaca has potable drinking water readily available in their homes!

We are extremely grateful to Elsa for completing this important project, and again wish to thank Debbi Kerr and Charles Augustine for providing the funding.

Location
Salamata, Kolda, Senegal

Community Description
13 k from Kolda along the main pothole-filled road into town lies the larger village of Salemata. There are approximately 1,200 people who live in this highly communicative place.

Salamata has a huge number of women’s groups, youth groups, associations, and garden groups, most of which host weekly meetings. The town itself is highly organized, with soap making projects, beautiful dry season river gardens, wet season field crops, and educational projects.

This year, one of the women’s groups will be working in the Master Farm producing dry season veggies and selling them in the market in Kolda. Being so close to Kolda, Salamata is in a great location to make good money for their crops and labor. As the basic market system goes, food is more expensive in cities.

Many men from Salamata also do day work as drivers and go back to their villages at night.

Saku Omar Mballo owns the Master Farm and acts as the president of the health post. He is a very motivated man with a lot of energy. Though he is not the mayor, when walking about town with him, one is aware of his social and political reach. Everyone in town greets him as they pass and ask him questions about his garden or the health post. They ask about his family and health as he returns the greetings, asking more intimate questions about someone’s sick grandmother or someone’s recent trip to Kolda.

Project Description
The Master Farm is home to improved garden techniques and demonstrations for the average farmer. The demonstrations are usually quick and simple ways to increase one’s crop yields, keep bugs out, and improve one’s soil.

The pump for this Master Farm will help with watering in the dry season and demonstrate a locally made appropriate technology.

Project Impact
11 men, women, and children will directly benefit by being at a training site. Many more will indirectly benefit through the increased yields of the farm.

Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Missy Ore and Marcie Todd

Comments

Dollar Amount of Project
$150.00

Donations Collected to Date
$0.00

ADOPT THIS PROJECT BY CONTRIBUTING $150.00

$150.00 (our new price, which includes labor) will give you "naming rights". You can name it after yourself or your family. You can dedicate it in honor or in memory of someone.

For a $500 donation, your name will be acknowledged on the program page for 52 Pumps in 52 Weeks Program - Senegal.

If you wish to give a smaller amount, to be applied to the overall program, you may do so.

Any contributions in excess of the Dollar Amount of Project will be allocated to other projects directed by these PCVs and/or projects of other PCVs in Senegal.

Dollar Amount Needed
$150.00

This project has been finished. To read about the conclusion of the project, CLICK HERE. We are still seeking donations.

Marcie reports:

When one pulls water traditionally, one grabs the bucket, usually off of the ground, drops the rope into the well and then flips the bucket upside down and drops it in following the rope. The bucket hits the water and one hears a hollow gulp and then begins to pull the bucket back up. One grabs and pulls one hand and then the other until the bucket gets to the top where one usually sticks one hand in the water a bit and pours it into another bucket for use.

This is an extremely unsanitary process. The well bucket that is usually stored on the ground sits on cement or dirt on which people have walked, goats have pooped, and kids have played. That bucket then gets sent to the well. Each time someone touches the rope the germs sit and fester on the wet rope, which also gets tossed into the well. No one washes their hands before collecting water.

With the rope pump system we are cutting out all of the hand-to-rope contact as well as the dirty bucket carrying vectors of disease. Turning the crank pulls the water, which goes into a bucket that never enters the well. The Erobon rope pump system is perfect for keeping wells clean and humans disease free!

Pump Output: 32 Liters/ Min

Total Number of People Benefiting: 82 people

Funder: We are still seeking funds for this project.

___

The initial projects under the program have been, and are continuing to be, carried out under the direction of Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Jeremy Mak. To date, 18 Mark II pumps have been repaired and 3 new Bluepumps have been installed. This has increased water access for more than 5,000 women, children, and men in 11 villages.

The projects previously undertaken are listed below, and the list will be updated as new projects are added:

• Dankunku, Fula Kunda, and Brikama Lefaya Pump Project – The Gambia by Jeremy Mak as a PCV
• Niamina Dankunku Area Pump Project - The Gambia by Jeremy Mak as an RPCV
• Sinchu Jaabo and Kaani Kunda Pump Project – The Gambia by Jeremy Mak as an RPCV
• Choya, Si Kunda, and Kalikajara Pump Project – The Gambia by Jeremy Mak as an RPCV

To see a PowerPoint presentation that Jeremy has prepared to highlight the previous work, CLICK HERE.

Community Description
This program will focus on the Central River Region, The Gambia, West Africa. The area is very rural. The vast majority of the population is without running water or electricity. Services are either very basic or nonexistent. Transportation is difficult, as the communities are located off the main highway, and none of the roads are paved.

Most Gambians in the region make their livelihoods through farming coos, peanuts, and rice in the dry season, by tending cattle, and to a smaller extent, fishing. Poverty is manifested in many ways, most prominently not having enough to eat.

Compounded with poor water access and difficulty of growing food in the dry season, malnutrition and sickness are common, as are skin diseases and other infections. Many of the more remote villages in the area are greatly under-served in every respect. Low government and aid penetration has left numerous villagers living a hand-to-mouth existence.

Numerous Mark II handpumps were installed in the area by the Government of The Gambia and outside aid groups in the 1990's. However, no formal maintenance or repair program exists to ensure proper service functioning of these high-maintenance pumps. As a result, many pumps have fallen into disrepair.

Since the majority of villagers do not possess the specialized tools, the technical knowledge, or the funds to maintain or fix pumps, broken pumps are sometimes abandoned. When a pump breaks, women and girls—those traditionally responsible for fetching water—must walk further and further in search of other villages with working pumps.

More often than not, villagers desperate for water will open the handpump well cover to pull up water with buckets and rope. Removing a covered well compromises the quality and cleanliness of a village's water supply, as contamination through dirt, runoff, and other pollutants can quickly create a breeding ground for a variety of debilitating and potentially fatal waterborne diseases. These illnesses not only harm the health and wellbeing of villagers, but also impact on the ability of locals to work and earn a living.

More pumps will continue to wear out beyond repair unless immediate replacement parts or improved pumps are installed. No organization is currently working in the area to upgrade handpump infrastructure.

Program Description
The overarching program concept focuses on improving rural clean water access in the Central River Region of The Gambia.

This program seeks to immediately repair broken Mark II pumps, identify villages in need of new Bluepumps, and undertake a series of related water, sanitation, and hygiene projects.

The Dutch Bluepumps are stronger than the Mark II, require little to no maintenance, and have a much higher output of water than the Mark II—all resulting in more reliable water supply and less time collecting water for villagers who solely depend on wells for their water needs.

Although the capacity exists to fix Mark II pumps, the main focus will be to promote and distribute Bluepumps, as it is often more cost-effective and more sustainable to replace old pumps with Bluepumps rather than repeatedly fixing malfunction-prone Mark II's.

This Bluepump technology is donated through the generosity of the Fairwater Foundation, and installed by Swe-Gam, the local Gambian implementing partner equipped and trained to maintain these pumps. Swe-Gam has made an initial offering of 15 Bluepumps, with possible additional pumps available.

Villages will be identified that have defunct pumps and/or that cannot afford to maintain their Mark II's, with a special focus on schools and health centers. The team will work with villages to coordinate the delivery and installation of the Bluepumps.

Special emphasis will be focused on under-served rural villages, particularly traditionally marginalized Fula communities in Niamina East District. The preliminary site list includes the Mount Carmel School in Sofyanama, Fula Kunda, Dankunku Health Center, the Mosque in Kaani Kunda Suba, and Nana.

In addition, assistance will be offered to interested Peace Corps Volunteers who wish to install Bluepumps in water-stressed villages nearby (i.e. Jimbala in Central River Region—North Bank; St. Therese School in Fula Bantang; and Jarra Sukuta, Lower River Region—South Bank).

While the main thrust of the program will be for pump repair and installation of new pumps, small WASH projects will be undertaken to improve general water distribution, storage, drainage, sanitation, and hygiene.

Under consideration will be creation of a series of robust water distribution networks, including storage reservoirs, which will serve to build and test the operational capacity and proficiency of the team to implement future projects.

The first of these WASH projects to be implemented is the Brikama Lefaya Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) Improvement Project – The Gambia.

Most of the Water Charity funds will be used to pay for costs for Swe-Gam to transport pumps from Banjul, the capital, to remote villages and install them. In addition, the money will pay for masons and other skilled labor, as well as incidental materials costs.

A fraction of the monies will support communication costs and local transportation to survey communities and visit Mark II suppliers in the city, in addition to a food stipend for a two person team, and a small per diem for a translator. Additionally, a GPS device will be purchased to mark the sites for increased transparency and accountability to donors and the humanitarian water aid sector.

Villagers will contribute cement, sand, and the gravel needed to form a protective concrete base for the pumps.

This is an extremely cost-effective and ambitious program that will have a widespread impact on the health and wellbeing of a large number of people. It builds upon previous successes, and strengthens the framework to expand the effort. It involves great collaboration with other agencies to amplify the benefits that will accrue.

To make a contribution for this program, please click the Donate button below. We will be grateful for donations in any amount. Donations of $250 or more will be acknowledged here:

Beverly Rouse, of Glendora, CA, USA, contributed $250

Brian Lee, of Los Angeles, CA , USA, contributed $250

Location
Samba Diaba, Kolda, Senegal

Community Description
Sare Samba Diaba is a small village located east of Kolda near the miniature airport. It is lush and full of rich soil. The village loves fruit trees and farms corn, millet, and sorghum during the rainy season. There are very few working and potable wells in town, so many members of the community come to the chief’s well for their water needs.

Samba Diaba is home to about 250 people that the chief says is his job to take care of. This year he has over 1,000 trees in nursery and plan more for the coming year. His master plan is to add a live fence to all of the compounds near the main dirt road in hopes to prevent the massive erosion that runs away every water season. This year, the rains have already destroyed two cornfields and collapsed one well.

Despite the erosion, most people are thankful for the water because it means this year’s harvest will be big. Last year the rain started late and ended early leaving many families without food this year, so the rain is a blessing.

Project Description

The chief’s well is weakly reinforced with a small layer of cement and mud bricks. They use a rubber bag with lots of holes to collect water so that by the time the water rises 17 meters to the top, there is hardly any water in it and human energy gets wasted. We will be reinforcing the well walls and then installing the rope pump in the normal fashion.

Project Impact
82 men, women, and children will benefit from the project.

Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Adrian Martinez and Marcie Todd

Comments
This project will have an immediate impact on the security and wellbeing of the community, and a long-range effect on its ability to meet its needs.

Dollar Amount of Project
$150.00

Donations Collected to Date
$0.00

ADOPT THIS PROJECT BY CONTRIBUTING $150.00

$150.00 (our new price, which includes labor) will give you "naming rights". You can name it after yourself or your family. You can dedicate it in honor or in memory of someone.

For a $500 donation, your name will be acknowledged on the program page for 52 Pumps in 52 Weeks Program - Senegal.

If you wish to give a smaller amount, to be applied to the overall program, you may do so.

Any contributions in excess of the Dollar Amount of Project will be allocated to other projects directed by these PCVs and/or projects of other PCVs in Senegal.

Dollar Amount Needed
$150.00

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