This weekend we finally broke ground on our water project that we have been working on since...well, since we got to site back in January really. Long story short, there is a nearby community that doesn't have acceptable access to safe water, so, after countless meetings with the community, we applied for and were awarded a grant from Peace Corps (a SPA grant, for those of you that that means something to) to extend the piped water system from a nearby semi-urban center to reach this community. Once the project is completed, the community of 600+ people will have 3 new public taps, giving them easy access to safe running water. The community is digging almost 800m of 1m deep trenches by hand in rocky soil, no small feat, especially for a community that is largely lacking men in their prime (a consequence of urban migration). The community also selected a water committee to maintain the system and collect user fees, and we helped them open a savings account at a local bank for the money. Anyways, getting back to the digging, I took some pictures that I thought you all might enjoy:
We had a good showing for the second day of digging. Even the kids came out!
Modou laying down the law on some kids who were slacking off
Working hard
Who's that stud?
Getting hot, but still at it. Note the tool the guy with the white shorts (Alpha) is holding. It's called a sambou and is basically a heavy metal rod with a sharp end. Very good for digging in hard ground.
This old guy worked his tail off all day
...with a pipe, no less! Love it.
1 comment:
inspiring
Post a Comment