Senegal

Location
Daro Keur Ibrahima Signane, Fatick, Senegal

Community Description
This project is being implemented in the community of Daro Keur Ibrahima Signane, which was described in Project 15.

Pump number 16 completes the 5 pumps in 5 days series. Darou Keur Ibrahima Signane (DKIS for short) is a true community space. Within the hectare are 83 plots owned by 78 families, as almost each family in DKIS gardens. Most of the garden is used to produce for the village while 10 percent of the garden space is marked off for market gardening and selling at DKIS local market.

Each day of the week in roadside towns across Senegal is a local market called a luumo. Luumo is where many people in villages go to buy their produce for the week as well as other essentials such as clothes, furniture, and rope. Luumos carry a lot of the products to the village that can only be found in bigger cities. This saves villagers from having to travel to a city. Also, the luumo gives producers access to a market close to home to sell their products. At the luumo DKIS sells hot peppers and green peppers.

Project Description
The pump being installed here will be the second in this space, the first having been described under Project 15.

Project Impact
78 families will benefit from this project.

Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Garrison Harward, Marcie Todd, and Amy Watts

Comments
This project further proves the benefit of scale achieved from working on double pumps and pumps in a concentrated geographical area.

Dollar Amount of Project
$100.00

Donations Collected to Date
$100.00

Dollar Amount Needed
$0.00 - This project has now been fully funded through the generosity of Jacqueline Chan, of Crestline, CA, USA in honor of Heather Chan, of Uxbridge, Ontario, Canada.

If you now contribute $150 (our new price, which includes labor), your name will be placed on the waiting list to adopt the next project in order.

If you wish to contribute less than $150, the money will be applied toward the overall program.

Location
Daro Keur Ibrahima Signane, Fatick, Senegal

Community Description
Daro is located just off the laterite road going from Toubacouta to Saloum Diane. We first started looking into this village after the Keur Andallah pump when we literally stopped in on the bike ride home. As soon as we did and saw their broken down water pump, we knew Daro had to be part of the project.

The village is small, only about 300 people, and predominately Wolof, but like everywhere in this region there are a few Mandinkans, Sereres and Pulaars. There is a primary school which almost all the children attend and a substantial community garden established by a previous Peace Corps Volunteer. It is primarily an agricultural village and the people here are already excellent gardeners and farmers. They have had a wonderful relationship with Peace Corps over the years and are continually learning and expanding their efforts.

Project Description
The community garden provides 75 people with fenced in plots for vegetable production. It sits within a flood basin which means that the water table is very high and perfect for rope pumps. There are two wells in this space and thus we will be installing two rope pumps. Pump #16 will be the second in this space.

Project Impact
All 75 members of the group will benefit from increased access to water. This should lead to increased production which will then increase overall nutrition in the village for kids like these.

Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Garrison Harward, Marcie Todd, and Amy Watts

Comments
These pumps will decrease crowding around the well and speed up the process of watering, allowing more time to be devoted to trying new gardening techniques and increasing yields.

This is the first of two pumps in this space. We're going to be trying to do more double installs like this in order to fully meet the needs of our villages.

Dollar Amount of Project
$100.00

Donations Collected to Date
$100.00

Dollar Amount Needed
$0.00 - This project has now been fully funded through the generosity of Jacqueline Chan, of Crestline, CA, USA in honor of Steve Cockwell, of Uxbridge, Ontario, Canada.

If you now contribute $150 (our new price, which includes labor), your name will be placed on the waiting list to adopt the next project in order.

If you wish to contribute less than $150, the money will be applied toward the overall program.

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

Location
Dassilame Serere, Fatick, Senegal

Community Description
Yep we're back here in Dassilame Serere once again. We've already described quite a bit about this village, but this is a good opportunity to emphasize one last facet of its personality. Dassilame Serere is persistent! Ever since we installed the first pump here the village has been requesting more and pushing for us to repair 4 existing pumps.

We initially held off wanting to spread the pumps far and wide while in the meantime Garrison helped them with other projects such as tree nurseries and improved gardening techniques. They kept pushing though, and in the end that kind of persistence, enthusiasm and work ethic needs to be rewarded so here we are.

Project Description
This project is to repair 4 existing pumps.

Almost immediately after we installed the first pump, Lamine (our welder in Toubacouta) was approached by a private group wanting to install more pumps in the area. This was a great opportunity for Lamine and thus he simply couldn't refuse even though he really didn't have the skills to be installing pumps on his own yet. The site selected turned out to be a women's group in Dassilame Serere.

Of course we would have offered to help, as the overall goal of the project is to establish pump producers who can have a profitable small business doing installs on their own, but unfortunately Garrison was out of village at a Peace Corps conference, and didn't get back until the day of the install. At this point it was too late to influence much and things just didn't go well. Corners were cut, as Lamine and the funders tried to finish.

4 installs in one day and in the end only 3 pumps ever worked. To make matters worse, those 3 only worked for about a month before various problems cropped, up eventually making them completely unusable. In a way, as much as we would like to blame Lamine or the funders for the spotty work this is our mess to clean up too. We brought the technology to the area so it’s our responsibility to make sure it works.

Project Impact
All 65 members of the group will benefit from increased speed pulling water and thus less congestion at the well.

Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Garrison Harward and Marcie Todd

Comments
This is a 4 for the price of 1 deal! Since the pumps are already there all of the money goes to supplementary materials meaning that we can fix all 4 pumps for the price of 1!

For the future, there are two brand new wells being built here and if all goes well they could become part of our 52.

Dollar Amount of Project
$100.00

Donations Collected to Date
$100.00

Dollar Amount Needed
$0.00 - This project has now been fully funded through the generosity of Jacqueline Chan, of Crestline, CA, USA in honor of Mrs. Julia Chung-Lun, of Sydney, NSW, Australia.

If you now contribute $100, your name will be placed on the waiting list to adopt the next project in order.

If you wish to contribute less than $100, the money will be applied toward the overall program.

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

Location
Dassilame Serere, Fatick, Senegal

Community Description
Marcie describes:

Dassilame Serere was the location of our very first pump! It is located in the delta region of Senegal about 25 km north of The Gambia. Since we were last here things have been changing a lot, in a relative sense compared to the rate at which things normally change here.

There is now another large gardening group, extensive improved rice cultivation, and even some new small businesses popping up. We wish we could say this was all due to Peace Corps, but in reality there have been a lot of new NGO projects coming in. The community is very lucky but they work hard to deserve everything they're given, and it shows in the success of these projects.

Project Description
Marcie further describes:

We've come back here to install a second rope pump in Pape Diouf's women's garden. Pretty soon after the installation of the first pump Pape approached us asking if it would be possible to put a pump on the second well since its closer to many of the women's plots.

At first we were hesitant wanting to spread these pumps to as many villages as possible, but then it occurred to us that we may make a larger impact by installing within a smaller area and fully meeting the needs of the people there. This seems to be a better idea then only doing half the job in one garden in order to do half the job somewhere else. As such we are coming back to finish the job here!

On top of just the pump, Pape and Garrison are working on a basin project to help more easily distribute water out to the far corners of the field and fully take advantage of the increased efficiency the pumps bring.

Project Impact
All 54 members of the group will benefit from the increased efficiency of pulling water.

Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Garrison Harward and Marcie Todd

Comments
On top of the benefit to the women, the pump is also great for the campament and the tourist love it. It shows how innovative and forward thinking the village really is and is fun for the guests. Happy guests equals job security for the workers and a steady cash flow for upkeep which can be expensive after a hard rainy season.

Dollar Amount of Project
$100.00

Donations Collected to Date
$100.00

Dollar Amount Needed
$0.00 - This project has now been fully funded through the generosity of Caroline Fahmy of San Jose, CA, USA.

If you now contribute $100, your name will be placed on the waiting list to adopt the next project in order.

If you wish to contribute less than $100, the money will be applied toward the overall program.

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

Location
Dantaxoune, Fatick, Senegal

Community Description
Dantaxoune is a small village outside of Sokone, which is home to the only primary school for 4 villages. There were, as of 2009, 99 female students and 94 male students.

The school is special in its function, as it also acts as an economic center. They raise chickens and buy millet when the price is low to sell when the price is high. This builds a sense in the students and parents alike that going to school will lead to economic success.

In 2008 Association Sine Salome installed a very large steel pump that could work for adults with large muscles, but the primary students had a hard time turning the wheel. They also installed fencing and a water basin for a school garden to increase the school’s economic potential.

In 2009 Peace Corps Volunteer Jessica O’Haren was contacted to help the school with tree pepinaires and at the end of her service she introduced Joey Johnston, the current volunteer, to Thiam and Diouff.

Thiam teaches Arabic, Diouff teaches French, and they both have a passion for the success of the school garden. Teachers in Senegal, as in many places, are not paid adequately and supplies for school are nil.

The money made from the garden, along with the other agricultural economic activities, helps to supplement the costs for materials and payment to the teachers. The garden also provides supplements to the school’s lunch plan, instituted by the World Food Program, which feeds kids that come from the further villages.

When Joey came to help, he quickly realized the lack of water was hindering their economic success and possible yields in the garden. The garden was almost exclusively growing okra and bissap. Okra and bissap are like tomatoes and basil in the United States; everyone grows them.

Last school season they started working on a more varied veggie garden, but had a hard time watering. They are now, pulling water from a well without a pulley located 30 meters away, which is similarly as hard as the massive steel pump for the smaller students. Also, it is preventing the students from wanting to water every day, leaving the plants water starved.

Project Description
This project is to build and install a rope pump for the school in Dantaxoune.

Project Impact
193 students will benefit from the project.

Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Garrison Harward, Marcie Todd and Joey Johnston

Comments
The installation of the water pump will alleviate many of the water issues and make caring for the garden much easier. In turn, it will provide the school food program with more supplemental food as well as money for materials and teacher-pay.

Dollar Amount of Project
$100.00

Donations Collected to Date
$100.00

Dollar Amount Needed
$0.00 - This project has now been fully funded through the generosity of Tristan Harward, of Cambridge, MA, USA.

If you now contribute $100, your name will be placed on the waiting list to adopt the next project in order.

If you wish to contribute less than $100, the money will be applied toward the overall program.

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

Location
Thiawando, Kaolack, Senegal

Community Description
Thiawando is a far cry from the remoteness of Keur Andallah, as it is located just 10 k outside of the regional capital, but amazingly it still has many of the same issues. It is a fairly large community of over 800 people, mostly peanut and millet farmers, but has only two wells with potable water. Of these two almost everyone in the village uses just one, because it is closer and the water slightly cleaner.

Here we have one of the classic problems that the Senegalese face: just 10k away in Kaolack there is electricity and running water but as soon as you leave the city center there just isn¹t the infrastructure or money to continue these amenities to surrounding villages.

Far from a sob story though, this village is thriving. It is a multicultural hub, as many villages in this region are, where almost everyone speaks three languages if not more. Also many people have jobs in the capital since it is so close, and as a result the village is obviously somewhat more prosperous than most.

The Mosque is beautiful and there is a large storage building for saving the community’s yearly harvest. Really the only thing holding them back is a lack of access to water.

Project Description
We will be installing a rope pump on the main community well from which most of the 800 residents drink. This should ease congestion around the well as it speeds up the process of pulling water.

In addition to this the village has expressed interest in starting a community garden next to the well. With the market being so close this will be a great small business opportunity and will help to increase overall nutrition in the village.

Project Impact
All 800 residents will benefit from the project through either increased speed pulling water, or increased financial security and nutrition from the garden.

Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Garrison Harward and C.J. Pedersen

Comments
This is a high-impact project that will extend great benefit to the community at minimal cost.

Dollar Amount of Project
$100.00

Donations Collected to Date
$100.00

Dollar Amount Needed
$0.00 - This project has now been fully funded through the generosity of Susan Smith of Rockville, MD, USA.

If you now contribute $100, your name will be placed on the waiting list to adopt the next project in order.

If you wish to contribute less than $100, the money will be applied toward the overall program.

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

Location
Saare Gouna, Senegal

Community Description
Saare Gouna is the third and final village in the clump of villages near Saare SambaThika.

Saare Gouna’s community garden is the best organized garden I have seen yet. There are 29 women who work in the garden and each one has her own space, divided by hundreds of tree branches sown together with prickly bush.

Each woman’s plot is a half a chord, though some of the older women have a bit more space, and they grow the veggies of their choosing.

Almost every woman grows hibiscus, whose leaves are harvested for sauce and flowers for juice, and okra. The combination is like the tomato basil duo we Americans grow in our back yards.

Project Description
Saare Gouna has one-well maintained and clean well located in the middle of their space. Each of the women pull about 20 buckets of water minimum for their gardens which becomes very tiresome, and a pump will speed along the process greatly while also saving energy.

Project Impact
The 29 members of the garden will directly benefit from the pump. Indirectly, all of their families will benefit as well.

Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Marcie Todd

Comments
This is another great project to add to the string of successes. The benefit to the women and their families will be long lasting.

Dollar Amount of Project
$100.00

Donations Collected to Date
$100.00

Dollar Amount Needed
$0.00 - This project has now been fully funded through the generosity of Cynthia Sperry, of Fayetteville, NC, USA.

If you now contribute $100, your name will be placed on the waiting list to adopt the next project in order.

If you wish to contribute less than $100, the money will be applied toward the overall program.

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

Garrison reports:

While I was very excited to put together this pump for the Training Center this week, I was not too excited about the time frame in which I had to complete the project. I arrived in Thies with just a day and a half to put the whole thing together before a scheduled demo for the Health and Environmental Education volunteers at their In Service Training. After sitting in the medical unit in Dakar for 6 days this sudden shift was a little jarring. Then again I enjoy being busy so it was nice to get back to work.

I started my day in the Thies market where I was lucky enough to find a beautiful new oil drum within about half an hour. Most of the time the ones available for purchase are old and dented but this one was shiny and new. So new in fact that it was still extremely greasy. I cleaned it out and brought it next door to a local welding shop where we welded four metal plates to the top and then bolted on the pump. After this we cut a small hole in the middle of the barrel and attached a PVC pipe to recycle the output back into the system: this way we wouldn't have to constantly refill the barrel. After this the install went pretty much like any other pump. The system is exactly the same, just on a very miniature scale.

On the demonstration day volunteers broke up into groups and went to different stations where they learned about various appropriate technologies such as improved stoves, nutritional supplements, and yes of course rope pumps. Every group seemed genuinely interested as they tried it out, asked questions, and even inquired as to how they could get a pump for their village.

The real indicator of success however in my opinion was the fact that after all the volunteers were gone about 6 Senegalese staff members came up to look at the pump and see how it works. One of the drivers said he was going to bring his son to see it, three women from the kitchen wouldn't stop saying good work no matter how much I tried to stop them and one man who comes by to trim the trees asked where he can buy one. Half the battle of improving living conditions here is just finding a way to motivate people to try something new. This pump inspires people and gives them hope that they really can better their lives.

Pump Output: 35 Liters/ Min

Total Number of People Benefiting: 100-200 per year

Funder: Christina and Jim Fernandez

Location
Thies, Senegal

Community Description
As we've said before, this project isn't just about installing 52 pumps. That's only the beginning. The real benefits will come from the knowledge we gain, the technicians we train, and the infrastructure for pump production that we establish as a result of this initial run.

In keeping with that vision this week's community is a little different from our usual demographic. Welcome to the Peace Corps Training Center located in the regional capital of Thies. This beautiful complex of old colonial buildings and gardens was our first home here in Senegal when we arrived as wide-eyed trainees. Every volunteer spends their first 9 weeks here and in surrounding villages learning local languages, receiving technical training, and learning the cultural skills they will need to be effective volunteers in the field.

This is also the site of In Service Training where volunteers further specialize their technical skills and learn about appropriate technologies, such as rope pumps. This center isn't just for volunteers though; it serves as a resource for the Senegalese people throughout the year through Master Farmer trainings, and Counterpart Workshops where volunteers and Senegalese partners from each village learn how to best collaborate during their two years of service.

Finally this center also holds international conferences where volunteers from other Peace Corps countries come to share best practices and collaborate on large international projects such as the new initiative to stomp out Malaria in Africa. It is truly an asset to Senegal and Peace Corps West Africa as a whole.

Project Description
In order to better support the training of Senegalese counterparts and PCVs in rope pump technology we will install a demonstration pump at the Training Center.

This unit will be mounted on an oil barrel rather than a well so that the entire rig will be portable and able to be taken to different sites to demonstrate the technology and teach welders how to construct the pump.

There is only so much that can be learned from looking at diagrams. With a functioning demo model it will be possible to establish new producers in more remote areas away from the Kolda and Kaolack regions where we currently work.

Project Impact
New trainees, current Senegal volunteers at trainings, volunteers from other Peace Corps countries at conferences, and local farmers and welders will all benefit from this pump. All told, between 100-200 people a year will directly benefit.

Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Garrison Harward

Comments
This training pump will facilitate the proliferation of this great technology, and will have a profound impact.

Dollar Amount of Project
$100.00

Donations Collected to Date
$100.00

Dollar Amount Needed
$0.00 - This project has now been fully funded through the generosity of Christina Fernandez, of San Francisco, California, USA.

If you now contribute $100, your name will be placed on the waiting list to adopt the next project in order.

If you wish to contribute less than $100, the money will be applied toward the overall program.

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

Location
Hann Maristes Minor Prison, Dakar, Senegal

Community Description
Northeast of Downtown Dakar in district Hann Maristes is a youth prison. The residents are men approximately aged 13-24. At any given time there are anywhere from 50 to 70 residents occupying the prison for crimes ranging from theft and smoking marijuana to murder. This week there are 56. Their prison sentences, pending the crime, vary from 1 week to 3 years, but typically no longer.

Saliou Faye, the Hann Maristes social worker, says they often have a problem with kids who complete their sentence, but return the next week. I told him the United States and Senegal are more similar than we know.

Many of the kids in prison come from broken homes, have one or more dead parents, or for some reason or another ended up trying to fend for themselves on the streets. The prison provides basic human necessities and even though obtaining a community, stability, and food, in this case, means doing something illegal and giving up freedom, many are willing to do so, be it consciously or unconsciously.

During the day at Hann Maristes Minor Prison, there are literacy classes twice a week, as well as Arabic and Quran classes, chores, and for a select group, gardening.

Cisse, one of the garden guards, explained that literacy classes do not do much good for those who stay less than 2 or 3 months, and what the prisoners really need are skills. This is why Cisse works in the garden. He says, “I am giving back to my community by teaching these kids something they can use when they leave.”

There are usually 6 young men, two security guards, a Tostan field employee, and a Peace Corps Volunteer, David Vaughan, who maintain the garden. The 6 young men are longer term residents of Hann Maristes whose offenses, from what I gather, as a few did not want to talk about it, are mostly minor theft to fighting. They are very excited about the garden, work really hard, and understandably spend as much time as possible tending to it.

Project Description
There is a garden attached to the prison designed to provide supplemental foods for the kitchen, teach a group of long term prison residents a skill and most importantly, give them something to do. The garden is still a new endeavor, but despite its immaturity and lack of reasonably accessible water (until recently, when a well was dug), they have onions, moringa oleifera, eggplant, and baby mango trees starting to grow.

Tostan financed the well and a water storage basin, which makes this location perfectly set up for a pump. As a group of Tostan, Peace Corps, Guards, and the regular young men that tend to the garden, we will install the pump and do an in-depth training on exactly how each part works. This will help ensure the longevity of the pump as well as the health of the veggies they produce.

Project Impact
About 60 individuals, depending on the week, will benefit from the project.

Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Marcie Todd and David Vaughan, Marie Nazon (a Fulbright Scholar working for Tostan)

Comments
Marcie further explains:

This one I think is one of the more important pumps we've done, which is shocking because it is in the capitol city of Dakar. It is really just incredible how excited the guys were to put the pump together and really learn how it works. They asked so many questions, we hung out, drank coffee, and talked a lot about where they see themselves going in the future.

Dollar Amount of Project
$100.00

Donations Collected to Date
$100.00

Dollar Amount Needed
$0.00 - This project has now been fully funded through the generosity of Stephanie Williamson, of Salt Lake City, UT, USA.

If you now contribute $100, your name will be placed on the waiting list to adopt the next project in order.

If you wish to contribute less than $100, the money will be applied toward the overall program.

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