Jamaica

Community Description
Belmont is a small rural fishing and farming community on the Southwest coast of Jamaica. Belmont is part of Bluefields, a collection of seven communities with a population of approximately 4,000.

Bluefields is located on the Bluefields Bay, an important marine habitat that has recently been designated as a Fish Sanctuary. A significant portion of the population relies on the fishing industry for food and income.

Unfortunately, in the past few decades a combination of poor fishing methods and overfishing has resulted in a significant decline in the local fishing industry. The Bluefields Bay Fishermen's Friendly Society (BBFFS), led by 57 local fishers, has been working hard over the past five years to combat this problem by educating fishers about sustainable fishing methods, lobbying for and maintaining a Fish Sanctuary to act as a fish nursery, and implementing projects aimed at improving the lives of fishers, their families, and the surrounding community.

Through partnership with Food for the Poor, the BBFFS has provided housing, fishing equipment, and a cold storage unit to fishers and community members. Unfortunately, the cold storage unit is yet to become operational due to concerns with the costs of providing clean water and electricity.

Project Description
This project will establish a rainwater catchment system on the cold storage unit building at the Belmont Fishing Beach. The unit will provide fishers with a 10' x 10' walk-in freezer to store their catch prior to sale. By doing so, the unit will encourage fishers to fish in deeper waters for larger fish, a style of fishing which is much more sustainable than fishing in shallow waters for reef fish.

The cold storage unit also has the capacity to greatly improve the health and safety of the process of preparing fish for consumption. Currently, fish are cleaned and scaled in a small stream adjacent to the Belmont Fishing Beach.

The stream lies in a basin that serves as the outflow for a watershed that receives sewage from over 35 houses. Recent water tests indicated that fecal coliform levels in the stream were upwards of 180 ppm, which is over 200% higher than the safe drinking level. The cleaning of fish in this stream thus poses a significant health risk to the local community.

The system will be comprised of gutters along both sides (24-feet long) of the tin roof of the cold storage unit building which will feed into a 650-gallon storage tank. The tank will be fitted with a pipe and spigot that will make the water available to the fishers in a designated fish cleaning area. A receptacle will also be constructed to ensure that fish waste is collected and composted to prevent any sanitation issues.

The water catchment system was designed by Patrick Marti, who has a background in chemical engineering, in collaboration with the Executive Board of the BBFFS. The project will be managed by Mr. Livingston Thompson, Vice President of the BBFFS, and Mr. Cavin Lattiebudare, Executive Board Member of the BBFFS, who are both fishermen and active members of the community. They will lead a team of five local fishers who will purchase the storage tank, pipe, spigot, glue, gutters, and waste receptacle materials and then install the system. Both Mr. Thompson and Mr. Lattiebudare have experience in installing similar systems.

Project Impact
50 fishers will directly benefit and approximately 1,000 community members will indirectly benefit from the project.

Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Patrick Marti

Comments
The water catchment system installed through this project will provide safe, clean rainwater to be used by the fishers for the cleaning of fish. It will also reduce the costs on the already burdened fishers by eliminating the need to purchase treated water, which would be the only other safe alternative. Finally, it will improve the health and safety of the community by reducing the pollution in the stream.

Dollar Amount of Project
$555.00

Donations Collected to Date
$0.00

ADOPT THIS PROJECT BY CONTRIBUTING THE DOLLAR AMOUNT NEEDED BELOW

Donations of any amount will be appreciated. The full amount will give you "naming rights", if that is something you would like.

Any contributions in excess of the Dollar Amount of Project will be allocated to other projects directed by this PCV and/or projects of other PCVs in this country.

Dollar Amount Needed
$555.00

Community Description
Ewarton is a semi-rural community located at the foot of Mt. Rosser in Northwest St. Catherine, Jamaica. The town is approximately 23 miles south of Ocho Rios.

The community has an approximate population of 14,000 people who live in thirteen unique districts. Persons are predominantly involved in agriculture or employed at WINDALCO/Rusal, the local bauxite company. In the center of town is one of the oldest and largest community centres in Jamaica.

For years, the community centre has had piped water from the National Water Commission (NWC). However, due to the world’s harsh economic situation, neither the Ewarton Community Development Action Committee (ECODAC), the local community based organization for Ewarton, nor the centre management committee is able to regularly pay the NWC bill. Currently, service is cut.

A pump station located in the district of Charlton Meadows supplies Ewarton as a whole with NWC water. However, the NWC admitted formally that they do not have enough water to supply Ewarton as a whole.

Water will be used primarily for drinking water with tentative future expansion of the system to collect unfiltered rain water for hand-washing and flushing of toilets.

Project Description
This project is to set up a rainwater catchment and biosand filtration system for drinking water at the Ewarton Community Centre. The hope is to reduce or eliminate the dependence upon and financial burden of the NWC for water.

The project will be carried out by ECODAC and the Ewarton Watershed & Farmers Co-operative Society.

Metal stands for storage tanks and a bio-sand filter will be constructed to create a gravity driven system.

The missing manifold and outlet PVC plumbing will be re-installed on the bio-sand filter created during PCJ's Group 81, Health Initiative, Hub-Based Peace Corps Training in April 2010.

15 feet of 6” PVC gutter will be installed on the SW corner of the main building at the community centre. Then the entire system will be connected together using ½ inch PVC piping.

Funds will be used to purchase 16-gauge metal sheeting, flat iron for cross-bracing, welding rods, and primer for the stands, 15 feet of 6" PVC guttering, joints, and accessories. Glue, PVC joints, PVC caps, PVC valves, and 3 lengths of PVC pipe will be purchased for the manifold re-installation and connecting plumbing.

Anticipated funding from Friends of Jamaica, a U.S. non-profit organization set up by Returned Peace Corps Jamaica Volunteers to support current PCV's, will cover the 2" galvanized piping and initial water quality testing of the filtered water.

In kind contributions of two 650-gallon water tanks, one from ECODAC and one from the Ewarton Watershed & Farmers Co-operative Society, and a bio-sand filter from Peace Corps Jamaica, will be utilized for the project.

The work will be overseen by Brain Perry, Ewarton Watershed & Farmers Co-operative Society Chairman, working with the PCV. Organization members will help with the installation of guttering and provide general assistance.

Construction and welding of the metal stands will be performed by Auto Thomas, Assistant-Treasurer of the Farmers Co-operative and welding expert.

Plumbing assistance will be provided by master plumber, Ken Caldwell, PCV in Falmouth, Trelawny, Jamaica.

After the system has been successfully created, water quality testing of the filtered water will be done by the Scientific Research Council to ensure that the water meets the standards of the Ministry of Health for safe drinking water.

ECODAC will ensure that the water is tested regularly to guarantee that the filter is working properly and effectively.

Project Impact
500 people will benefit from the project.

Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Mark Bryson

Comments
This project marshals diverse resources to satisfy a crucial need to bring water to the center.

Dollar Amount of Project
$555.00

Donations Collected to Date
$10.00

ADOPT THIS PROJECT BY CONTRIBUTING THE DOLLAR AMOUNT NEEDED BELOW

Donations of any amount will be appreciated. The full amount will give you "naming rights", if that is something you would like.

Any contributions in excess of the Dollar Amount of Project will be allocated to other projects directed by this PCV and/or projects of other PCVs in this country.

Dollar Amount Needed
$545.00

Community Description
Refuge is a poor rural community located in the hills of Trelawny, about 8 miles from Falmouth. It has approximately 130 households, and a population of about 500. Over 40% of the household heads are unemployed.

The Community Center also serves as the Basic School, which has one teacher and 20 students ages 3 to 6. There is no water in the school or the toilet building.

The bathroom building is behind the school, with a pit toilet on the girl’s side and a flush toilet on the boy’s side. There are no sinks in the bathrooms.

The Ministry of Health has served notice that the school will be shut down unless the sanitation facilities are upgraded by the end of August, 2011.

Project Description
This project is to bring running water to the school, and to upgrade the bathroom facilities with flush toilets and new sinks. The project will be carried out under the direction of the Rufuge Basic School and the Refuge Community Association.

A water line to the toilets and the sinks will be installed and tied into the water line on the street.

On the girl’s side, the old pit toilet will be removed, the floor will be patched with concrete and a new flush toilet and seat will be installed.

On the boy’s side, the old flush toilet will be repaired and a new seat added.

New hand washing sinks will be installed in both the boy’s and girl’s rooms. Each sink will have a new ½” PVC water line with a shut-off valve and a new 1½” PVC drain. The sinks will drain into an existing storm water concrete drain. Piping the sink water (gray water) into the storm drain will not harm the environment and will avoid filling the pit that the toilets drain into.

Water Charity funds will be used to buy a toilet, 2 sinks, PVC piping, and the necessary valves and fittings.

The work will be done by plumbing students from the vocational training institute located in Falmouth. The plumbing teacher will supervise the project, and is fully supportive because this will provide hands-on plumbing experience to his students.

Project Impact
All 500 residents of Refuge, but especially the students, staff, and parents of the Basic School will benefit.

Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Mary Lee Caldwell

Comments
This is an example of how the Appropriate Projects concept can react to an emergency situation, and prevent the closure of a school.

The project is basic, and is necessary for the health and wellbeing of the students and community. It is supported by the school and community, and has a good plan for implementation.

Dollar Amount of Project
$555.00

Donations Collected to Date
$555.00

Dollar Amount Needed

$0.00 - This project has been fully funded, through the generosity of Six Senses Resorts & Spas as a part of their Clean Water Projects initiative.

We encourage others to continue to donate using the Donate button below, and we will notify Peace Corps Volunteer Mary Lee Caldwell of your donation. Additional funds will be used to fund the next project by Mary Lee and/or those other PCVs in the country of service.

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

Community Description
Westphalia is a very rural community north of Kingston, Jamaica, in the Blue Mountains. It is home to about 500 people who are primarily farmers of the famous Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee.

The community has been largely overlooked in the past 50 years, especially in terms of the water and the road systems. The current water source is a river up in the mountains about 1 1/2 miles away.

There is an existing concrete water catchment system. Water is run through an above-ground 3" galvanized pipe to the edge of the community.

A project is already underway to rebuild an old storage tank that is currently inoperable. The water is potable, but there is a currently operable chlorination tank, should the need arise for purification.

Westphalia All Age School serves about 75 children from ages 5 to 15. Currently, the students must carry their drinking water to school from a spring about a half mile down the hillside. By the time the children get to school they are often tired, which interferes with their learning.

There a bathroom and pit latrines at the school. Water is needed for drinking, cooking, flushing the toilet, and washing hands.

Project Description
This project is to bring potable water to the Westphalia All Age School.

Piping will be run to connect the galvanized pipe at the edge of the community to the school. Trenches will be dug and the pipe will be buried. The system will be gravity fed.

Project funds will be used to purchase 70 lengths of 1" PVC pipe, couplings, and glue.

The owner of the catchment and existing piping has given permission for the use his equipment, and is an active participant in the project.

Community members will provide tools, dig the trench, lay the pipe, and provide transportation of materials. The school will provide the storage of materials.

The work will be overseen by an older, well-respected, community member who is a contractor with experience in building water systems.

Each household in the community will pay a yearly maintenance fee which will support a neighborhood watch type maintenance system.

Project Impact
80 people will benefit from the project.

Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Elizabeth DiCocco

Comments
This project builds upon the existing infrastructure to bring water to the school. It utilizes the great support of the community and the school to create a cost-effective solution to the needs of the students and faculty.

Dollar Amount of Project
$500.00

Donations Collected to Date
$500.00

Dollar Amount Needed
$0.00 - This project has been fully funded, through the generosity of Judy and Doug McDonald, of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

We encourage others to continue to donate using the Donate button below, and we will notify Peace Corps Volunteer Elizabeth DiCocco of your donation. Additional funds will be used to fund the next project by Elizabeth and/or those other PCVs in the country of service.

Community Description
Aeolus Valley All Age School is a small rural school nestled in the valleys of the Blue Mountain foothills. The school is approximately seven miles from Yallahs, St. Thomas, and twenty five miles from Kingston.

The school serves eleven surrounding communities, which include: Scotland Gate, Sam’s Mountain, Aeolus Valley, Swamp District, Lloyds, Bransbury District, Logwood, Hampstead, New Land, Yallahs, and Pondside.

The school population is comprised of 194 students: 127 boys and 67 girls across grades one through nine. The school employs eight teachers, one guidance counselor and one acting principal.

The school compound consists of three classroom blocks, one principal’s cottage, one canteen, one water tank, and two new flush toilets. The top block contains grades one through three, the middle block contains grades four through six, and the bottom block contains grades seven and grade eight/nine.

Most of the children who attend the school come from families involved in agriculture and quarrying. The majority of the students come from a low socio-economic status. As such, approximately fifty percent of the student body is on the Ministry sponsored PATH Programme and receive free lunch on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Three times per week, students receive a free and nutritious breakfast through the Heart of a Child Foundation. Funding for the organization comes from alumni of the school and other generous benefactors.

Aeolus Valley All Age is one of the oldest schools in the area, having been founded in 1926. Yet, its progress has been slow during recent years.

The school was able to install two new flush bathrooms for its students with help from Food for the Poor. However, the students have not been able to use the bathrooms, as there was not a connection to a water supply.

The students are presently forced to revert back to the use of the old pit latrines and one deteriorating pipe for hand washing.

Project Description
This project is to do the work necessary to bring water to the school bathrooms.

A pump will be purchased and installed and connected by piping to the existing storage tank. This will finally allow the students to use their newly installed bathroom

Project Impact
The entire school, consisting of 194 students and 10 faculty members, will benefit from this project.

Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Danielle Porreca

Comments
Upon completion of the project, there will be usable flush toilets and new sinks. The improved sanitation will greatly improve the health conditions at the school.

For a relatively small amount of money, this project adheres to the Appropriate Project standards, which call for utilizing existing improvements and “making them work”.

Dollar Amount of Project
$500.00

Donations Collected to Date
$500.00

Dollar Amount Needed
$0.00 - This project has now been fully funded, through the generosity of Six Senses Resorts & Spas as a part of their Clean Water Projects initiative.

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

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