Bring Clean Water to 15 Villages in Rural Gambia

Dear Friends,

We've been making BIG plans to help the people of the Gambia. We're working with local company SWE-GAM to coordinate the next shipment of Bluepumps from the Netherlands. From this batch, we hope to obtain enough robust and sturdy handpumps to replace old, broken ones in 3 to 5 villages. With new pumps, communities will have durable, and long-lasting access to CLEAN WATER, the key ingredient for health and development! We're also researching manual drilling kits and irrigation technology to bring additional added value for poor communities in Gambia's Central River Region. The funds we have raised on Global Giving are slated for these activities. Right now, the country is in the middle of the rainy season, when the water table is the highest. We're waiting for the dry season, when the water's at its lowest--the best time to measure water depth and perform pump repairs and installations.

In the meantime, with non Global Giving funds, we've also been investing in other ways to assist locals in improving their quality of life in order to tackle poverty in a more integrated way. In addition to our handpump repair and installation initiative, we're continuing our health education campaigns by distributing soap, building handwashing units, and teaching good health habits.

Secondly, our three-year old model tree farm and garden at our base in Sare Lefa is doing well. Our tamarind, mango, and mahogany seedlings are gaining height, and our outplanted cashews are starting to bear fruit. The leucenas we planted are improving soil fertility, and the pigeon peas and moringas we planted are producing nutritious and tasty beans and leaves year on year to supplement meager diets and improve food security.

One day, I was out with Almami, my 12-year old friend, looking at the tree farm's gmelina timbers, which we are starting to get tall and thick. His father and I planted the gmelina stumps 3 years ago. I told him, pointing at the trees lit up by the morning sun, "One day, you can use these to build a nice house." For Almami, he knew that having quality timbers meant he'd never have to live again in a mud house braced with weak sticks that was at risk of collapsing. He just looked at me and smiled. (Once cut, gmelina vigorously resprouts. They can be sustainably harvested for timber). 

We continue to encourage the Sare Lefa community to plant additional trees, and regularly introduce new tree seed varieties and agroforestry techniques. We've also helped the community deep plow their fields with a tractor to promote deep percolation and retention of rainwater to help crop growth and prevent runoff and erosion during this growing season.

Thirdly, we're teaching communities how to make briquettes with field waste to reduce reliance on fuelwood and combat desertification and fragmentation of the local forest habitat. We're also experimenting with stove designs that burn crop residues, like weeds and peant and coos shells, rather than wood. Furthermore, we've procured high-quality, long-lasting mosquito nets that will help families prevent ever-present malaria, a leading killer of children. We will distribute these, targeting mothers with children under the age of five. 

Lastly, we've also supported Doctors Without Borders, a leading medical humanitarian organization, in its fight against the Ebola virus disease outbreak in West Africa. This rapidly spreading disease has killed more than 1,550 people, and has sickened thousands more. The illnesses threatens to spread beyond Sierra Leone, Liberia, Nigeria, Guinea, and DR Congo and into nearby countries like Senegal and Gambia. With poorly developing health infrastructure networks, these nations are particularly vulnerable to this deadly disease. Let us hope that the disease will soon be reigned in and stopped. 

Again, many thanks for your generosity and compassion. Our work wouldn't be possible without your support!

Sincerely,

Jeremy Mak