Huntingdon Primary School
Project Snapshot
Country: Sierra Leone
GPS Coordinates:
Latitude 8.365667
Longitude -12.958983
Impact:
Total Served: 201
Status: Completed (?)
Completion Date (or estimate): 05/06/2010
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The well rehab was at the REC Huntingdon primary school located in the Koya Rural district of Sierra Leone. The hand pump was stolen from this well five years ago, leaving the school to fetch water from a hand pump in a village a half mile away. A new afridev hand pump was placed in this well. When the team showed up at the school everyone was so excited to see them pull in. there was cheering and clapping! Most people in the community earn a living through teaching and farming. When the project was complete, the community established a water committee and a point person to be the caretaker of the well.
Testimonies from a community member
Musa Kanu, 42 head teacher spoke with the team about the water needs for her community. “The children have been going back to the village for water and often don’t return back to school. Many times they’re late for school which interferes with their education. The new hand pump will be very easy to control the going in and out of students. I’m very happy about this. We have been praying for a new pump. The community pump closes at 10 a.m. The children will now have all the water they want from this well. We are very grateful! Thank you!!”
The school students gathered with the team around the well to pray before beginning the work. When the team arrived the head teacher was going over the story of Joseph and Potifer. It was wonderful to hear him Bible storying with the children and paralleling behaviors with their lives. Upon completion of the project, the children gathered back around the well for the dedication. There were songs of praise and thanksgiving. The Gospel was presented. There is a "church" that meets at the school on Sundays. The team is willing to come to this school to do a showing of the Jesus video some evening. The head teacher mentioned that they had been praying for assistance for years and were really losing hope. Jesus is the restorer of HOPE!
Hygiene Training
This was the first day back to school after the Easter holiday break. In this country, both teachers and students really don't take their education time seriously. Unfortunately, the day the team visited this school, only one of the six teachers were present and 82 of the 196 students were present. The team taught the hygiene lessons to those who were present and will revisit this school in the near future when the team rehabilitates a well in the village. They plan to have a separate time to speak with the teachers about their responsibility of setting a good example for the students and how it doesn't look good for visitors to come to a school and find only one out of six teachers present and see children sitting in a classroom with no teacher.
Project Photos
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.
