Third village of 2000 people given the go ahead for clean water
December 07 2009
We are delighted to report that the Cycle for Gambia team raised 60000 euro.
This was pledged or collected by the team from Cycle for Gambia while we were in Cyprus and it gave us a great deal of muscle to negotiate with the water system & solar energy company.
Straight off the flight we went to the company’s offices and started to examine what could be achieved with the additional funds. We were already 3/4 of the way through Njongon’s water system and now we could begin to look at the third village M’Bollet Bah. A large village of over 2,000 folk. Initial estimates looked like 84,000 Euro would be needed to complete Njongon AND put a full system into M’Bollet bah, so we decided to rethink things & to go to the villages over the next few days and discuss it with them.
You need to appreciate Gambians do not jump up and down when you say you have money coming, they have heard it all before from other NGOs and government departments, and then nothing happens. We learnt this from our first village of Bafaluto that they only celebrated when they saw actual work being carried out.
After visiting Bafaluto the next day and seeing the success and the impact of the clean water, babies and mothers were healthier and they had a great market garden.
We were uplifted with what had been achieved with our help and their hard labour.
Back to the North Bank, we talked to the leaders in Njongon who agreed to help dig the trenches for their water distribution system and to reduce the distribution network from 2.5km down to 1.5km to save money. They were very sympathetic & aware of the difficulty of raising money during these times of recession.
Following this meeting we came up with a possible alternative approach for M’Bollet Bah. Could we service M’bollet Bah from the already completed Njongon bore hole? Could we increase the pumping capacity, with more solar panels, could we upgrade the inverter and finally could the water be gravity fed over 3 km to Mbollet Bah. We did not want to incur the cost of an intermediate pumping station.
We took this new idea back to the water system & solar energy company and they set to work investigating the feasibility. A few hours later they gave us a “thumbs up” & soon came up with a price for this revised system. M’bollet Bah villagers had already agreed to digging the trenches for their distribution pipes.
We now can get clean water to 3000+ villagers (1000 in Njongon and 2000+ in M’Bollet Bah) for just 52,000 euro more! A saving of over 30K.Wonderful value for money!
Any extra funds can be used to increase the distribution network or provide Hippo Rollers (www.hipporoller.org), since the 52,000 will provide an absolute minimum number of stand pipes in each village: a lot of carrying of water will still be necessary, but it will be Clean Water.
Reaction in M’Bollet Bah is cautionary as they have heard it all before, but Njongon are very happy as they already have their water tank and bore hole completed. We were delighted that they readily agreed to reduce their distribution network to help their neighbour. and had no complaints about the delays in their water being finished as we have to wait for new upgraded equipment to arrive. They said they couldn’t be comfortable having a full water distribution system if it meant their neighbour didn’t have any clean water at all. It was quite humbling & a lesson for all of us, how readily Njongon were willing to settle for less to ensure their neighbours got something .
The leaders of M’Bollet Bah have been trying to get clean water for over 14 years and have had many promises but nothing ever came of them. At our meeting with them the chief was offering to stand down, as he had not been able to achieve this basic requirement for his people. They are proud people but this group of middle-aged village elders (male & female) begged us to help them. We found this really tough and we are so glad that all the effort Sunil, Dave, Leslie and the rest of the Cyprus team have put in allowed us to tell them we will make their dream of Clean Water a reality.
Long term we can see the benefits from our first village, Bafaluto , and the impact on health with many less infant mortalities in the last year, healthier adults, a better quality of life for the women (the women in M’Bollet Bah currently have a 4 km round trip to carry 25lt of water which then needs boiling, not to mention the work of gathering the sticks for the fire!), more education time for the children, more people staying in the villages and people moving into the village due to it having Clean Water. All families pay a small amount into a village fund for the upkeep of the water system and maintenance of the market garden fencing.
The borehole is 80/90 metres deep and the quality of the pump, inverter and solar panels are top class. With good maintenance they will have many many years of clean water.
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We need more funds to take the water around M’bollet Bah, about 15k euro to have taps available in different parts of this large village.
We were asked to look at another project which is 10km north past Njongon, towards the Senegal border, with three small villages who could operate off one borehole, one tank, & one set of solar panels & pumping system and then we’d pipe water to the 3 villages.
But Njongon & M’Bollet Bah projects will be brought to a final conclusion before we think of moving on to another project sometime next year.
If you can help, please donate today, we are really making a difference on the ground and it is a joy to see!!!
