DC Mahera Primary School
Project Snapshot
Country: Sierra Leone
GPS Coordinates:
Latitude 8.601700
Longitude -13.198800
Impact:
Total Served: 1100
Status: Completed (?)
Completion Date (or estimate): 04/15/2010
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General Information:
The well rehab was at the DC Mahera Primary school located in the Port Loko district of Sierra Leone. The well at this school took 10 years to construct. They finally were able to begin using the well last year and the pump stopped working in the first month. When the team pulled up the pump, they found that the contractor did not use a new pump. He had used old pieces and literally had a nail through one of the pipes to hold it to the head of the pump. The team installed a new Afridev pump. The community was using the stream for their water source. Most people in the community earn a living through teaching, farming and petty trading. The community helped out with the project by providing security and labor. When the project was complete, the community established a point person to be the caretaker of the well.
Testimony from a community member:
Khadija Kamara, 30 year old head mistress for the infants spoke with the team about the water needs for her community. “Before we had this well, the students would drink from the stream and there was much sickness. Once we were able to use the hand pump, we saw a reduction in sickness of the students. This new hand pump is marvelous. We feel so cared for! Thank you!”
Additional Testimony
When the team was taking the group picture, there were just too many students to come around the well. It was amazing. After the dedication, the children began singing tell him thank you, tell papa God thank you! Children were dancing and there was clapping and cheering from everyone. The head teacher commented that they don’t see many people with integrity to come along and right the wrong. The team told them that God is the God of redemption. He sees all and one way or another He makes
things right. The students gathered to pray with the team before each day of work.
Hygiene Teaching:
LWI Sierra Leone is a partner with UNICEF and the menstrual hygiene lessons were presented to 127 fifth and sixth grade girls. This is a hygiene training that is to be taught to all girls across the country. Other lessons included: germs/disease transmission, proper hand washing, healthy unhealthy communities, proper care of the pump, keeping the water clean and good-bad hygiene behaviors.
Project Photos
Sponsors
40 individual donors
Build to Lead Team
Duane & Katrina Weaver
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.
