Bring Clean Water to 15 Villages in Rural Gambia

With your support, our clean water projects in poor, rural villages in Gambia are going full speed ahead—I want to share with you our recent work in Kalikajara village, which is without a doubt, one of our most impactful well rehabilitation efforts to date.

Kalikajara is a small village of 117 ethnic Fula residents from 12 households. The community had 2 handpumps installed 19 years ago over a single well. The pumps failed and were disassembled and pulled out 5 years ago, with the pipes and other parts stolen soon after. With no way to fix their pump and no alternative source of clean water, the village has since turned the covered well into an open one, drawing water by buckets and rope and in the process, contaminating the well. See a video of how difficult and dangerous the conditions became for drawing water for Mariama Bah and other villagers here.

Five years is too long to wait for clean water, and we set out to bring clean water back to community. We removed debris that had fallen into the well, chlorinated the water, reset the concrete slab to seal the well, and installed two new Bluepumps. Now Mariama and other mothers in the community have clean water to give to their children for the first time in years.

These handpumps are a drastic improvement over outdated, breakdown-prone technologies. Durable, easier to use, and simpler to maintain, these pumps have a much higher water output and are expected to last 20+ years each.

We are also developing a circuit-rider program—building local capacity by training mechanics to regularly inspect all Bluepumps we’ve installed over the years so we can ensure that they are functioning properly and to detect any potential problems early on.

Villages like Kalikajara deserve better than drinking out of open wells and suffering from a lifetime of waterborne diseases. And we’re going to make sure that they get the enduring clean water solutions they need so they can live happy, healthy, and productive lives.

Again, these well repair and installation projects are NOT possible without your generosity. THANK YOU! Our work is far from done, and your support is critical to our success. I look forward to sharing more examples of how we are changing lives in rural Gambia.

Best wishes,

Jeremy Mak

Gambia Lifewater Project Founder, Managing Director

Links:

• Summary of all Gambia Lifewater Project Work to Date