Yams Farm
Project Snapshot
Country: Sierra Leone
GPS Coordinates:
Latitude 8.385667
Longitude -13.113067
Impact:
Total Served: 200
Status: Completed (?)
Completion Date (or estimate): 07/15/2010
Share this Project
The community of Yams Farm (next to Malike Bah house) is located in the Western Rural district of Sierra Leone. This was an open well and the community was using a rope and a rubber to access their water. The community helped the team with the repair by providing materials and labor. they all worked together in unity, it was a peaceful community. The team sealed it up, a base was replaced and a new Afridev hand pump was installed.
The community was so excited with this development! 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 and petty trading.
Testimony from a community member:
Nancy Kamara, 39 year old trader spoke with the team about the water needs for her community. “The water in the open well did not taste fine. We can taste the difference. We could not drink the water before. It was very bad.”
Hygiene & Sanitation Training:
There were 23 women and 18 children who attended this hygiene training. In addition to the following lessons listed below, the importance of using a latrine was discussed and how to build a native toilet. Presently, this community is an open defecation community. The team discussed in depth how disease is spread because of this practice. The community appreciated the teachings.
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
David Howe's Fundraising Page
Rachel Goheen's Fundraising Page
Lisa Sanchez's Fundraising Page
Madeline Alexander's Fundraising Page
Emily Keebler's Fundraising Page
Linda Swanson's Fundraising Page
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.
