Medina Abdoul Well Project - Senegal

Community Description
Medina Abdoul is a small Pulaar village of 131 people in the Kolda region, which is in the south of Senegal between The Gambia and Guinea-Bissau. It is 40 km from Kolda and 3 km from the paved road.

There is a primary school in the village which has one teacher. The nearest health hut is on the road in Kampissa which is 3 km from the village.

The majority of the villagers are subsistence farmers, with several men working as traders and masons.

There is an active women's group which has successfully started and maintained a group savings program with the help of La Lumiere, a local NGO. All of the women in Medina Abdoul garden throughout the entire year.

During the dry season the women maintain makeshift gardens in the dry seasonal riverbed. During the rainy season when the river rises they build makeshift gardens closer to their homes.

Project Description
This project is to build a well, which will be used as a source of potable water for the village and a year-round source of water for gardening

The community will provide a lot for the garden in the village, and build permanent fencing around it.

The well will be dug by the village men and the masonry work done by the resident mason. It will be dug to a depth of ten meters to ensure year-round access to water. It will be a simple well, incorporating a rope and pulley to retrieve water.

Project funds will be used to pay for materials, including cement, metal support bars, rope, pulley and bucket. In addition, the funds will pay for the transportation of materials as well as the masonry labor required to build the well.

Upon completion of the well the women's group and the village will assume responsibility for maintaining the well in the years to come.

The women will be able to diversify their vegetable crop and engage in new gardening techniques to increase garden output. In addition, they will be able to begin new agroforestry techniques, such as live fencing. Finally, they will be able to engage in intensive cultivation of the Moringa tree.

Project Impact
This well will provide 131 people with clean water and provide the garden with a reliable source of water to allow year-round gardening, resulting in improved nutrition.

Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Megan Thompson

Comments
This project will provide a potable water source for village and water for irrigation of the community garden.

After the completion of the well the women will be able to garden in a secure, continuously maintained area, allowing them produce vegetables much more reliably and efficiently.

It will add to the health and security of the population at large, as well as providing economic benefit to the participants.

Dollar Amount of Project
$450.00

Donations Collected to Date
$450.00

Dollar Amount Needed
$0.00 - This project has been fully funded, through the generosity of Mark Thompson, of Fowlerville, MI, USA, and others.

We encourage others to continue to donate using the Donate button below, and we will notify Peace Corps Volunteer Megan Thompson of your donation. Additional funds will be used to fund the next project by Megan and/or those of her counterpart PCVs in Senegal.

This project has been finished. To read about the conclusion of the project, CLICK HERE.

Conclusion of Medina Abdoul Well Project – Senegal

This project has been successfully completed, under the direction of Peace Corps Volunteer Megan Thompson. To see the history of the project CLICK HERE.

The project was to construct a well, to be used as a source of potable water for the village and as a year-round source of water for gardening.

Megan reports:

The well for the community garden of Medina Abdoul was finished in early May and fencing for the garden was finished in June. The village is delighted to have a quarter hectare garden but are they are thrilled to have a well that, as they have said it, “will never run dry.”

The well was dug down to 7 meters which was when, no matter how fast the masons dug or the women bailed, they could not overcome the water that sprang out of the ground.

The well was dug at the height of the dry season and now, with the rains in full swing, the water level has risen another meter.

Abba Seydi, a prominent woman in the community, has taken to showing every guest who comes to the village the well, and then demonstrating how the water is as deep as she is tall. The depth is especially nice because the well is also very wide allowing for two pulleys to be put up allowing more people to use the well at once.

Recently we held a gardening training and all the participants, including those who were not residents of Medina Abdoul, pulled water and commented on how much water there was and how much easier gardening will be with this well.

Megan concluded:

The garden project would have never happened if Appropriate Projects hadn’t stepped in and helped finance this well.

Thank you everyone who donated to this project. You have made a significant impact on the lives of my village and they (and I) are extremely grateful for your contributions. On Jaraama. Thank you.