People in Kpandabu, a village in Sierra Leone, are likely feeling hope spring, surge and well up within them, as the charity Hope Spring have recently installed a major new clean water system in the form of a borehole pump there.

The village is a growing community, with a current population of 650.

“I wake up early in the morning to fetch water from the swamp. It is not easy to collect water from the swamp because of the distance and activities at the water well. This is always putting the water in a filthy state which would not be good for drinking. I can only get clean drinking water from the swamp early in the morning when few or no one would have collected water before my arrival at the water well.” – Musa Bangura, 27.

The borehole, which is a cross between a borehole and a water well, is deep enough to reach the source of clean ground water and shallow enough for the water to be brought to the surface with a simple hand pump. A unique hand pump that works like a bicycle pump was developed as a low cost alternative to the traditional hand pumps used in most places in Africa.

These boreholes are a cost-effective solution and can offer longer-term clean water supply, lasting around 8 to 10 years, and with proper maintenance, up to even a lifetime! For this project, Hope Spring harnessed the services of local contractors to execute it, as is one of their key policies.

Charity ‘Hope Spring’ installs clean water system for West African village
Photo: Hope Spring

Plagued by poor living conditions and persistent levels of poverty for generations now, Sierra Leone as a country has weathered dire challenges, from a lack of potable water to hygiene and sanitation issues. However in recent times, the country has experienced a strong degree of progress. Indeed, Africa at large is said to be the fastest growing continent on the planet, both thanks to progress from within, at the level of economic governance and also the private sector, and contributions from organisations such as African Development Bank donors, charities like Hope Spring and the like. Yet, some of this progress has been somewhat disrupted post-pandemic, reportedly due to subdued investment and unsuccessful exports as a result of the Ukraine war and COVID-19. It is still very much developing as a continent, and also, not to mention, the development underway in Africa has been uneven across its subregions, as statistics have shown.

Hope Spring is working on two more boreholes in Sierra Leone, and two new projects in Nigeria. Find out more about their work via their website.

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Mehdi Moosvi is a History BA graduate from UCL who seeks to help others via writing with pragmatic value, whether it be as a poet, or copywriter. He is passionate about many subjects, from mental health to animal rights, to poverty relief, homelessness and more.

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