Calaba town
Project Snapshot
Country: Sierra Leone
GPS Coordinates:
Latitude 8.435183
Longitude -13.165033
Impact:
Total Served: 150
Status: Completed (?)
Completion Date (or estimate): 06/30/2010
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The community of Calaba town (37 Gassama street) is located in the Western Rural district of Sierra Leone. Most people in the community earn a living through petty trading. This was an open well and the team sealed it up. A base was set and a new Afridev hand pump was installed much to the delight of the community. A pad was built around the well. The community really pitched in to help the team with the repair by providing labor, materials and security. There was so much joy! When the project was complete, the community established a point person to be the caretaker of the well.
Testimony from a community member:
Emma Sesay, 16 year old student spoke with the team about the water needs for her community. “It is much easier to get water now. Sometimes where I use to get water before this well, I had to pay le 100. This will control the spreading of disease and make the water pure.”
Team Leader Testimony:
The students and teachers gathered with the team around the well to pray before beginning the work. The community worked side by side, laughing and joking. There was such joy to be had with the prospect of receiving clean water. Upon completion of the well, they all gathered back around the well and dedicated it back to Daddy God and gave thanks through prayer and singing. This community tells God plenty tenke (thank you) and also plenty tenke to the donor!
Sanitation and Hygiene Training:
This was a great community and a great hygiene training. There were 35 adults and 18 children who attended the training along with 35 ORS spoons distributed. They were very thankful for the training. The importance of using a toilet was discussed.
Lessons included germs/disease transmission, proper hand washing techniques, healthy/unhealthy communities, ORS (oral rehydration solution), proper care of the pump, keeping the water clean, good-bad hygiene behaviors, dental hygiene and disease transmission stories.
Project Photos
Sponsors
Country Details
Sierra Leone
- Population: 9.7 Million
- Lacking clean water: 47%
- Below poverty line: 70%
- Climate: Tropical; hot, humid; summer rainy season; winter dry season
- Languages: English, Mende, Temne, Krio
- Ethnic Groups: 20 African ethnic groups 90% (Temne 30%, Mende 30%, other 30%), Creole (Krio) 10%
- Life Expectancy: 48 years
- Infant Mortality Rate: 155 deaths per 1000 live births
Partner Profile
Living Water International
Nearly 20 years ago, we set out to help the church in North America be the hands and feet of Jesus by serving the poorest of the poor. 600 million people in the world live on less than $2 a day. 884 million people lack access to safe drinking water.
For all practical purposes, these statistics refer to the same people; around the world, communities are trapped in debilitating poverty because they constantly suffer from water-related diseases and parasites, and/or because they spend long stretches of their time carrying water over long distances.
In response to this need, we implement participatory, community-based water solutions in developing countries. Since we started, we’ve completed water projects for 7,000 communities in 26 countries.
It all began in 1990, when a group from Houston, Texas traveled to Kenya and saw the desperate need for clean drinking water. They returned to Houston and founded a 501(c)3 non-profit. The fledgling organization equipped and trained a team of Kenyan drillers, and LWI Kenya began operations the next year under the direction of a national board.
That pattern continues today; we train, consult, and equip local people to implement solutions in their own countries.
Remembering the life-changing nature of that first trip in 1990, we also lead hundreds of volunteers on mission trips each year, working with local communities, under the leadership of nationals, to implement water projects. It’s hard to know which lives are changed more—those “serving” or those “being served.”
Our training programs in shallow well drilling, pump repair, and hygiene education have equipped thousands of volunteers and professionals in the basics of integrated water solutions since 1997.
