Bring Clean Water to 15 Villages in Rural Gambia

Jainaba is a young girl who lives in Sare Sambel, a small, remote village in Central Gambia home to about 150 ethnic Fula farmers and cattle herders. Water here was a huge problem for her growing up. The community received its only handpump in 1999 as part of a government flood relief program. But for 13 years it had been serviced only twice, and with secondhand parts. At any moment, it was at risk of breaking down, which would have forced villagers to drink from the same open well that is used for cows.

We first went to Sare Sambel in 2012 to give the village handpump much needed upgrades. Videos of this work can be seen HERE and HERE. This helped increase water output, but we knew this wasn’t enough to keep Sare Sambel’s ageing pump going for much longer.

We recently went back to replace the community’s old, worn-out pump with a new, stronger and more robust Bluepump, that can serve Sare Sambel with clean water for 20+ years. Oxfam calls the Bluepump the best handpump available today. The before and during installation videos are HERE, HERE, and HERE.

You can see a video of a happy Jainaba testing it out the day after we installed the Bluepump HERE.

This is just one example of how Water Charity and the Gambia Lifewater Project are ensuring that in even the poorest village, women, children, and men have improved access to water and are less vulnerable to water shortages during drought. Clean water access in Sare Sambel is much more reliable now, giving community members not only better health outcomes, but also a greater sense of confidence and self-reliance in managing their water supplies than they did previously.

And we're not stopping here. Thanks again for all your support in making this happen.

Best wishes,

Jeremy