In 12 small, rural communities in Sierra Leone there are 50,902 girls and boys, women and men who are is desperate need of access to safe, clean water.
At one time – decades ago – the residents of the villages had clean water coming fresh from the ground, but a lack of maintenance of the wells, such as those in the communities of Mokphendeh and Foya which were constructed in 1989, failed long ago.
Joseph Kobba, program director of our partner in the country, Rural Youth Development Organization (RYDO), is a man with a mission to repair these non-functional wells.
But he can’t do it alone, and that’s why he has reached out to Bread and Water for Africa® seeking help for tens of thousands in a dozen communities in the Bumpe Ngao Chiefdom in Bo District to construct a total of 13 wells, including two in Mokoba with a population of 5,765.
“Hand-operated water well pumps are common in villages and communities in Sierra Leone and other part of the developing world to lift water,” explained Joseph. “However, in many rural areas of Sierra Leone, the problem of broken hand pumps water wells can be extensive and between 20 percent and 50 percent of surveyed recently conducted by RYDO on hand pump water wells which are out of service.”
In the 12 communities focused for this Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) project, Joseph said more than 300 boreholes (deep drilled water wells) “can be found, out of which roughly 25 percent were in a functioning state as of March 2024 when RYDO carried out a survey on broken hand pump water wells.” (In the region, that meant that while 75 of those wells were operational, 225 were not.)
The communities had relied on these pumps for years for their water supply before they failed with Joseph noting sometimes repair involves simply fixing a broken hand pump, or other times is means sealing a hand dug well to prevent it from being contaminated.
“Maintenance and/or rehabilitation of water wells is one of the most cost-effective ways to bring clean, safe water to a community,” says Joseph.
For the past few years, Bread and Water for Africa® has been partnering with Joseph and RYDO to renovate a medical clinic that was being threatened with closure due to its deteriorating condition, distribute donated medicines, medical supplies and equipment shipped by Bread and Water for Africa® to the country and support an agricultural training program for smallholder farmers, primarily women and youth, to teach them how to get larger harvests from the small tracts of land.
Now with the help of our supporters across the country, we are working right now to raise $14,553, the amount calculated by Joseph to repair wells in a dozen villages, plus an additional one at a clinic, which amounts to $1,120 per project.
Or put another way, $14,553 to provide clean water to the 50,902 individuals – 14,424 girls who will no longer be spending their days fetching water from possibly contaminated sources, 12,701 boys, 12,994 women and 10,783 men – the cost amounts to less than 30 cents per person!
In addition, to prevent the newly refurbished wells from falling into disrepair for many years to come, each of the communities have agreed to assume the cost of the maintenance of the hand pumps, and two men and two women have stepped up to learn how to properly maintain the hand pumps and make any necessary repairs as they may arise.
“The beneficiary 12 communities have been part and parcel of every decision-making aspect of the project from the start,” adds Joseph. “They will be involved in providing the local materials and supervise the project to ensure effectiveness.
“Members of the community can educate each other on the importance of clean and safe water.”
Join us in our mission to bring clean water to those in need and create lasting change in Sierra Leone.
