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FACE Africa
| Issue #14 - January 2012 |
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Dear Friends:
Last December our project brought improved access to clean water, sanitation facilities, and hygiene practices to students at the Hope Mission School and residents of surrounding communities in Bernard Farm. We completed the project with a generous grant from the Voss Foundation and wanted to share a few follow up photos.
From the Hope Mission School
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a young girl drinks from our recent handpump at Hope Mission
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young boy from community takes a drink
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our 40ft well equipped with a handpump
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See photos of the entire project here >> |
Project #5: Help the Children Orphanage
The Help the Children Orphanage Home was established in 1992 by Reverend Benedictus Kofa as a result of the Liberian civil war, which started 1989. Between 1990-1991 thousands of children were orphaned or separated from their families.
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Some of the kids at the orphanage
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Rev. Kofa and his wife Sarah encountered many of these young children during the height of the war and established the Help the Children Orphanage (HTCO) in 1992 to house them. The home started with 130 children. A few years after the war subsided, the International Red Cross Committee started a family tracing program to reunite children with their families. HTCO signed up all 130 children with the program but only 75 were fortunate enough to be reunited with their families. Over the years, some of the children were either reunited with their families, or placed in other homes.
Currently the HTCO is home to 37 children and young adults, including Kofa and Sarah's own children. Like many orphanage homes in Liberia, the Help the Children Orphanage receives little support from the government and struggles for basic daily necessities. The children live in unhealthy and unsafe conditions with little or no access to safe water, adequate sanitation facilities and hygiene, medical care, mosquito nets, and nutritional meals. Many also are not in school.
The current WASH situation at the home is dire. There is a single outdoor toilet on the compound, open and without a roof that is used by all of children and administrators. The open toilet is directly behind the kitchen and due to pressure fecal matter and urine have begun to leak into the ground. This presents a host of sanitation and hygiene related issues.
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toilet facility at the orphanage
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There is an existing open well in the compound which runs dry during the dry season. According to Rev. Kofa the well water is only used for washing, bathing and cooking. There is a private hand pump in the community which is about a 15 minutes walk from the home and the children are mainly responsible for fetching water, which costs $50.00 Liberian dollars (0.75 cents to buy).
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open, contaminated well at Help the Children
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In 2010, we received a generous $10,000 grant from Symphony Dubai and the Ports family. Earlier this year, FACE Africa began implementing a WASH project to bring improved access to clean water, sanitation facilities, and hygiene practices to the children and administrators of the HTCO. Residents from the community will also benefit from the hand pump. Use of the toilets will be restricted to the home.
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current toilet facility under construction
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A week into cleaning the existing well to prepare it for rehabilitation, our workers encountered a large flat rock below that was unpenetrable. They tried to dig through it but were unsuccessful. Drilling would have proven much more expensive and with no guarantee of success. With advise from our partner and the workers, we decided to hand dig an entirely new well which is now at 20 feet and providing ample water.
Last week, concrete rings (also known as culverts) were dropped into the well. The culverts are used to line the well to help provide sufficient structural integrity and prevent collapse. They also prevent unsanitary surface water from entering into the well. Next, the walls of the well will be smoothed out, and the bottom cleaned out further to add gravel (sea sand and crush rocks) for extra filtration from the ground. After that the well will be closed and the pumped installed and water tested!
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construction of the well
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dropping the cement rings during well construction
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all hands on deck to lower the culverts
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Upcoming Projects
Project #6: Williamtown, Careysburg, Liberia With funding from the Global Neighborhood Fund, FACE Africa will implement a full-scale water and sanitation project in Williamtown, Liberia. Project activities will include: construction of a well and handpump, construction of institutional latrines, pump mechanic training for a designated WASH committee in the village and a comprehensive health and hygiene promotion training among residents. Project #7: Lofa County, Liberia With funding from the Liberian United Women in Progress first "Little Miss Liberia Fundraising Contest", FACE Africa will implement a WASH project in a community in Lofa County with no or limited access to clean water and sanitation facilities. The project will include the construction of a well, hand pump, communal latrine, as well as comprehensive health and hygiene promotion among residents Rivercess, County by County Committment
Through our County by County (CbC) Committment, we have an ambitious yet simple goal: clean and safe drinking water for every single Liberian, one County at a time, through partnerships and strategic implementation. From the community to district to County level, CbC will focus on achieving true, long-term water and sanitation solutions. Everyone in the County where we work will have access to water and sanitation, even the hardest to reach and most isolated areas. Look out for more information on CbC in our next Newsletter! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   |
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Join Us for our 3rd Annual Gala - Tickets Available NOW! 
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