Why the boreholes are needed in Makeni
By Delia Kay, who is working for the Makeni Support Group and is based in Makeni
St Joseph's School for Deaf Children had all their buildings and pipe work ruined by rebels and so they rely on buckets of water. In the dry season (which lasts about six months) their shallow wells run dry so the children have to walk up to half a mile to collect water. There are 75 boarders so alot of water is needed for washing clothes, preparing food, washing dishes apart from showering etc.
Holy Spirit Hospital was built after the war and started as a small clinic. It has expanded now to a 55 bed hospital and the shallow wells can not supply all its water in the dry season. They top up their water supply with two deliveries of river water a week in the dry season which they have to pay for. The river water is dirty and I can speak from experience here, as our well ran dry two weeks ago so the fire engine brought us a delivery of river water. For more information on the hospital, www.hsh-makeni.com
The University has been established in old secondary school buildings that have pipework and water tanks already existing. However, with 500 university students they need much more water through out the year and in the dry season one well runs dry very quickly, so water is rationed. The borehole will supply water that is clean enough for the students to drink, and allow the University to build more toilets and hand washing facilities.
How Water for Kids is helping Makeni
WfK has contributed £4,000 towards the cost of providing the boreholes, which were completed in March 2010, for three establishments in the town of Makeni, Sierra Leone. They are St Joseph's School for the Deaf, Holy Spirit Hospital and The University of Makeni. They have no water supply for up to six months of the year, as a result of damage during the war. The project was run by the Makeni Support Group, which is based in the UK and has two representatives in Makeni. We are pleased to have been able to support this worthwhile work in a country that has been so damaged by war.
The work involved drilling three boreholes, building water towers and connecting to existing sanitary appliances. It was completed in just two months; the handover was on 3 March 2010.
There are some great new photos at www.deliaandjon.blogspot.com/
