Many of us take water for granted, but imagine needing to take a vessel to a watering hole blocks from your home to dip for water, then transporting it home balanced on your head. During the dry season, you’d need to walk even farther – two miles to a stream or pond to get your water for drinking and washing. These sources have various contaminants, and it takes tremendous effort and time to haul the water, but you have no choice. Worms and diarrhea, along with one of the world’s highest rates of child mortality, are an everyday reality.

Working closely with the village water committees and in-country experts, SLPP repaired three wells in 2006. In 2007, SLPP funded three new protected wells and repairs of a flawed government well, adding four wells that now provide safe drinking water year-round. The United Nations and Sierra Leone government have built two additional wells. Each village now has three or four protected wells for an average of 1,700 residents – a tremendous improvement from only 12 months ago. We work closely with the village water committees so that people are trained to maintain the wells, assuring that the water will stay clean and available for decades to come.

Safe, clean water is the most effective way to improve basic health, especially among young children. Better health means kids can attend school more often and farmers can focus more time on growing the food their families need. Given the intense labor demands of their subsistence farming, saving 40 minutes with a convenient well – compared with walking two miles to a watering hole – is a huge productivity improvement.