Working on two big projects

This project is for 10 villages with a total of about 8,000 people. We are going to add some new water wells, fix some old water wells, enpower the village to fix their own wells in the future and improve the general hygiene.  The leaders of the community have gathered for us to explain the project and for us to get there commitment

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To schools in the area will get new bathrooms and wells. The old latrines filled up and were too small. We will replace them with ones that have a lot larger capacity and also have the ability to be bucket flushed. Much nicer.  Cheryl and the district supervisor are in the background. We always involve the local and area governments in these projects so they can support them once we leave.

These women are fishing. They use nets supported on hoops about the size of a hula hoop.

This is what the villages look like. No electricity and currently no water.The wells they currently have are dry or they have broken down. We will train about 30 well mechanics in the villages and district so they can service them themselves. We will provide them with tools. We will also provide two parts depots so that they can obtain repair parts without having to make an extremely long trip into the major cities. 

We will also establish a Community Savings and loan. This is because there are no banking facilities in the area. The community will assess themselves a monthly water charge for each family. They will use that money to fund pump maintenance and repairs. People will be able to contribute to their Community Savings and loans. With the extra money they will loan it out and profit from the interest. They will also produce a community farm where the proceeds will go to the savings and loan. At the end of the year the prophets will be distributed.  

The Community Savings and Loan is a wooden box with three locks and an intricate and duplicated record-keeping system. The box is kept in one residence and three different community members are each in charge of one key. All three keys are needed to open the Savings and Loan box.

This is one of the non-working wells. In the dry season most of them stop working because the water table lowers. We will refurbish some by digging the wells deeper. Also the mechanical parts you can see wear out and need maintenance. 

The NGO (non government organization) who was proposing a new project for us took us to a village were they had just completed a similar project that they would like to copy. This project was funded by the Irish government. In this picture they've built racks so that the villagers could keep their dishes off of the ground after they have been washed.

This was their water source before the project. This is where they would drink and do their laundry.

They are now raising giant snails for their personal protein consumption and to sell. The snails are about the size of a grapefruit.

To improve Village hygiene each house built their own individual bathroom. The toilet is on the left and the shower is on the right. Both drain into a septic tank. In the past we did group toilets but it was found that they are maintained better if they are individual. You can tell the pride of ownership.  This one even has tile.  A bucket of water is used to flush the toilet down to the septic tank.

A demonstration farm was created to teach the villagers proper farming techniques. They raised cassava root. You use it like a potato. In between the cassava roots they plant beans. The beans replenish the soil with nitrogen and can be sold.

The demonstration farm worked so well that they expanded it significantly. They burnt the forest where they wanted the new farm to be.  The burnt trees they will process into charcoal and sell it.

This is an example of a well maintained water pump area. They have fenced it to keep farm animals out. It is extremely clean. They have rules that even includes fines if you enter the pump area with your shoes on. The orange metal around the pump secures the device from being stolen. They charge $50 Liberian dollars a month per household for pump usage. That equates to about 30 cents US money.  The pump is only allowed to be used at certain hours of the day so that the water table can recharge.

I think a lot of charcoal gets made in the area we were in. They cover the charcoal with some sort of leaves and then bind it. There were lots of taxis that looked kind of like this

We had our first run in the rain. It was better than not raining.  It cooled us down. The water didn't bother us at all because you get real sweaty anyway from the humidity.