Akid Water Project

I am thrilled to announce that my long-awaited water project plans have been approved! There are two communities in my clan that are incredibly remote and still do not have electricity or pipe borne water.

The path leading to Akid community

 As of now, women and children travel far distances to haul water home in buckets and containers to use for cooking, drinking, bathing, and anything else that requires water. They are drinking this water straight from the streams without any treatment system, and it is often making them sick. The water is really not sanitary as the streams are used for all sorts of purposes. People are bathing in the rivers, urinating and defecating into them, dumping garbage, doing laundry, and allowing runoff pesticides to drain into them. The water is not really safe to drink or use for preparing foods. People have complained of stomach pains and have reported that they and their children are suffering from diarrhea. Additionally, there are many skin infections and incidents of filariasis. The village also has very high rates of malaria and in fact the majority of patients admitted to the hospital each month are treated for malaria. The fact that people are storing multiple containers of river water within their homes (normally in uncovered buckets) is likely contributing to these numbers, as the water already contains mosquito larva that is then brought into the household, and at the very least, the stagnant river water provides a good breeding opportunity for other mosquitoes. In general the community has expressed worries about drinking the water and have said they would like a system for health purposes. In creating the water system, we are hoping to reduce some of these particular health problems in addition to improving overall health.

Akid

For the past several months I have been collaborating with village members, technicians, and organizations to see how we can bring water to these people. We have designed a water system that will consist of a filtration tank next to the river to purify river water.  The clean water will be pumped to a tank over the community and the water will then flow down to several different spigots in the village for use. 

The river that will be used for the water system

After a long wait, I am happy to finally say that the project has been approved, and we found a very gracious donor, Water Charity, to front the necessary funds. Ready for some shameless promotion? If you are at all interested in helping with this project, please go to http://www.watercharity.com/akid-water-system-project-cameroon to learn more or donate!

 

Villagers collecting stones for use in the water system