Our level of activity is directly related to funds available, its that simple.
By October the commitments we made to various villages on our last visit in February had been completed. While our primary objective is village Clean Water Systems, we were approached on behalf of a Clinic in Brikama, located in one of the largest villages in The Gambia.
NAWEC is the National Water And Electricity supply company in The Gambia and it struggles to provide a reliable supply of either services, especially water. The clinic was often but unpredictably left without any clean water supply so often that when there was water they filled buckets and plastic baths to ensure they would have a supply.
This clinic set up by a local doctor is known as Bikiling Clinic and copes with up to 100 patients per day. Those who cannot afford the consultation fee of D25 (£0.30) are treated freely. Since the clinic has electricity a Borehole pump would not require a bank of solar panels and an inverter; nor would there be any issue of a distribution network.
The company with whom we work in the villages kindly agreed to sink a Borehole, provide a pump and a storage tank on an elevated platform for an unbelievably low price of D115,700 (£1,550)
The following pictures show a section of the waiting room and clinic entrance.
And finally the new reliable water supply and a letter from Dr Bojang
.