Six Senses

Community Description
Gome Village is a rural community bordering Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve in the central region of Malawi. The community's main source of income is from the sale of tobacco and soy beans.

There are up to 540 people in Gome Village and 5 nearby villages who do not have reliable access to clean water. The borehole well that is used by the villages has been broken for the past five months.

Many people have been forced to use shallow wells or nearby streams containing water that is often contaminated. Villagers have experienced increased amounts of sickness due to the poor quality of the water.

Project Description
The borehole pipes will be extended from their current depth of 28 meters to reach the water at a depth of 51 meters. The water is of good quality and will be available year-round. In addition, other pump repairs will be done.

Project funding will be used to buy new parts, including seven 4 m PVC Pipes and six Pump Rods, and materials, including cement.

The project is being coordinated by the Gome Borehole Committee.

A government water maintenance worker inspected the borehole, developed the parts list, and will perform the repairs. He will also teach members of the committee to do future repairs.

Project Impact
There are 540 people in six villages who will benefit from this project.

Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Tomas Pickering

Comments
This is a high-impact low-cost project that will have a definite and meaningful result. The built-in training element ensures sustainability, as there will be people who will be able to make future repairs.

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 Tomas Pickering of your donation. Additional funds will be used to fund the next project by Tomas and/or those of his counterpart PCVs in Malawi.

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

Community Description
Daunkeo Town is the provincial capital of Takeo Province, which is one of the more densely populated provinces in Cambodia. The town is about 2 hours south of Phnom Penh.

The town is smaller and more easy-going than some of the bigger provincial towns in Cambodia. It is situated next to a lake so there is a constant supply of water which the town treats and distributes though pipes to the developed areas of the town.

There are various NGOs based in the town, many of which conduct their work in the more rural areas of the province.

The Provincial Teacher Training Center is where teacher trainees from all of Takeo province must study in order to become a primary school teacher. Entry is very competitive and determined by an exam. Trainees live at the training center and study methodology and the subjects for two years. The trainees live at the school free of cost.

There are two two-story dorms on campus, one for the men and one for the women. In the women's dorm, about two hundred trainees live together among eight medium-sized rooms. Generally, the women sleep three people to a full-sized bed. Obviously, space is limited. With so many women living densely together, water is also limited.

There are two bathrooms in the building, one on the bottom floor and one on the top floor. They serve not only the residents, but also the staff and guests, as there are no bathroom facilities attached to the office or the classrooms.

Each bathroom has a large concrete container to hold water. There are five toilet stalls in each bathroom. The water in the concrete container is used for flushing the toilets, cleaning the bathrooms, taking showers, doing laundry, and for cooking.

There is a faucet connected to the town's water supply in the lower bathroom. Unfortunately, the water supply is not reliable. Sometimes the water comes out, but at other times there is no water. Despite this irregular service, the school currently spends about $250 per month for water.

The upper bathroom is not connected. So the women must carry water from the lower bathroom to the upper bathroom.

Project Description
This project is to install a rainwater catchment system at the school. Water will be collected from the roof of the women’s dormitory, and directed to the large concrete water containers in the two bathrooms.

Project funds will be used to purchase materials, including the zinc gutters, piping, and hardware, and to pay for skilled labor to do the construction.

Project Impact
About 200 female students currently living in the dormitory, plus 30 teachers and office staff, will benefit from the project. In addition, guests who visit the training center for workshops and meetings will also be affected by the project.

Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Julie Kierski

Comments
This project will provide water to alleviate the critical sanitation problem at the school. The addition of the rain water supply system will assure that the trainees have access to enough water.

In addition to having a more reliable supply of water, the school will be able to substantially reduce the amount it pays for the public water. This will free up funds to be used for other crucial needs of the training center.

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 Julie Kierski of your donation. Additional funds will be used to fund the next project by Julie and/or those of her counterpart PCVs in Cambodia.

Community Description
Matakossi is located in South East Senegal, in the region of Kedougou, about 37 km west of the city of Kedougou, on the Salemata road.

A traditional subsistence farming Pula-Futa village, the major field crops, and therefore dietary staples, are corn, rice, and groundnut. Dry season gardening is rather difficult and limited due to the fact that the only year-round water sources are by the river (about 2km away) and by the forage (hand-powered water pump).

There are about 500 people living in Matakossi at any given time and about 470 year-round residents. Currently Matakossi has one forage and 6 wells which go dry in the dry season. The primary school serves about 80-100 students each year. There is great interest in improving diet through improved gardening techniques.

Project Description
This project is to construct a cistern at the primary school for water storage, and to run the necessary piping from the water source to cistern and from there to the school garden and the latrine.

The cistern, located between the garden and the latrine, will be made of cinder blocks and cement.

A water intake mechanism, constructed of heavy-duty sheet metal, will be installed at the forage. PVC piping will be run underground, connecting the components.

The water thus provided will be used to irrigate the garden and to fill the reservoir for the hand washing robinet next to the latrine.

Locally led formations for students and community members are being organized to learn and apply gardening techniques such as permagardening and companion planting, while reinforcing responsible water management.

Project Impact
This project will directly affect approximately 100 students and 30 women from the women's group. The entire village will benefit from nutritional betterment.

Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Frank Guzzardo

Comments
The irrigated garden will provide meaningful lessons to the students and enable much-needed nutritional variety in the Matakossian diet. The handwashing station will encourage proper hygiene, and thereby reduce illness.

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, with the help of friends and family of PCV Frank Guzzardo.

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

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

Community Description
The district of Olmos is located in the department of Lambayeque in Northern Coastal Peru.

La Estancia is a small agricultural village nestled in the dry forests of the district of Olmos. The village has a population of approximately 1,200 people.

The community is located 35 minutes by moto-taxi on a dirt road to the main town of Olmos where families can buy fresh meat and vegetables in the market.

The village has a pre-school, a joint primary and secondary school, a health post, a municipality, a community run comedor popular (like a soup kitchen), a women’s club and a beekeepers association.

The majority of the men in the village work in agriculture, receiving a salary of around $5 a day. Most women are stay-at-home mothers, responsible for the maintenance of the house and children. Families usually have between 3 and 5 children.

Families raise animals such as chickens, goats, sheep, and pigs for consumption. Houses are made of mud and wood with tin roofs.

Recently the national government installed electricity in the community.

This project will take place at the school "Cesar A. Vallejo Mendoza" I.E. N 10181, located in the village of La Estancia.

Currently, students have to use a rustic handwheel to pull up buckets of water, one bucket at a time, from a cemented well, 15 meters in depth.

Due to the hard labor of extracting water, the amount of water available to students is limited. The students use latrines and currently have no hand washing facilities.

The science and work education teachers have installed two large vegetable and fruit gardens, but are unable to plant vegetables due to the difficulty in retrieving water.

Project Description
This project is to install an electric water pump, and connect the well to the bathrooms and the elevated water tanks that serve the school.

The tanks have already been bought by the school. They will provide water for the bathrooms as well as the two gardens.

With water available Peace Corps Volunteer Sara Mascola, teachers, and the health post workers will give workshops to students, parents and community about handwashing, how to brush teeth, nutrition, gardening, and the SODIS method of water purification.

Sara states:

Our goals are to benefit 100% of the student population with improved cleanliness of the restrooms and handwashing stations, maintain the trees and plants that are currently planted in our school gardens and throughout the 2 hectares of campus, and be able to plant vegetables in our gardens for the students to take home and share with their families.

Project Impact
194 students (between the ages of 5 and 18) and 214 adults (teachers and parents) will be directly benefited by the installation of this electric water pump and piping system.

Also, the rest of the community will benefit from the improved sanitation at the school, as it is used as a community meeting place.

Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Sara Mascola

Comments
This small project will be of great benefit to the students and staff of the school, as well as the community at large. It will contribute to a healthier student population through improved sanitation and better nutrition.

Dollar Amount of Project
$497.00

Donations Collected to Date
$497.00

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 Sara Mascola of your donation. Additional funds will be used to fund the next project by Sara. and/or those of he counterpart PCVs in Peru.