UMC Primary School - Makeni
Project Snapshot
Country: Sierra Leone
GPS Coordinates:
Latitude 8.808800
Longitude -12.039380
Impact:
Total Served: 400
Status: Completed (?)
Completion Date (or estimate): 08/20/2010
Share this Project
The community of Makeni, Makump Bana is located in the Bombali district of Sierra Leone. The rehab was done at the UMC Primary School. This pump had been broken since April 2008. So they were using the well but through an open top, this was causing dysentery and typhoid.
The team had to break through cement and cut through welding before they could pull the pipes out. They found rusted pipes and a disconnected cylinder. They changed out the pipes with stainless pipes, put in new sucker rods and replaced the cup leathers. The school staff and children were so happy and thankful for this intervention. The community helped the team with the repair by providing security and labor. When the project was complete, the community established a point person to be the caretaker of the well. Most people in the community earn a living through teaching, petty trading and selling wood.
Testimony from a community member
Falla Bangura, 12 year old student spoke with the team about the water needs for his community. “The pump is very good. It’s very difficult to get water with a rope and a rubber. I tell God tenke (thanks).”
Hygiene & Sanitation Training:
It was a great hygiene training with the teachers and students. Everyone was so enthusiastic! There were 25 adults, 8 teachers and 135 students who attended the training. 35 ORS (oral-re-hydration) spoons were distributed. They talked to them about the importance of using a latrine and how to build a native toilet.
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 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.
