Six Senses

Community Description
Kouthia Ba is a primarily Wolof community of about 1,500 people located in the region of Tambacounda, about 30 kilometers north of the road town of Koumpentoum.

In early 2009 Kouthia Ba was established as a Communaute Rural, the community received electricity during the evening hours and within the past month a newly established laterite road extends from Koupentoum, through Kouthia Ba.

This rapid development is leading to new opportunities for many people but the majority of the population subsists primarily on herding and the farming of millet, peanuts, corn, sorghum and other crops during the raining season which then hopefully supports them throughout the year.

The middle school of Kouthia Ba was recently established in 2006 and has been growing quickly, with the sixième class doubling in size to over 60 students at the beginning of this past school year.

Since the start of the middle school there has been no water source at the school. The school has two latrines which are left unused because there is no efficient way to clean them or water to use when going to the bathroom.

The school community has expressed great interest and shown the initial steps in creating school gardens and tree nurseries which can’t be realized without a reliable water source.

Kouthia Ba has a functioning water tower and one of the main pipes passes directly through the middle school compound, making it easy to extend a faucet from the main pipe.

Project Description
This project will consist of the installation of a faucet to provide water for the school. The stem of the faucet will be encased with cement for protection along with a cement platform at the base.

Funds will be used to purchase supplies to construct the faucet, labor to install the faucet, supplies to construct the cement protection and platform, and labor for the mason.

Project Impact
This project with provide a water source to a middle school of over 140 students.

Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Melissa Hunt

Comments
This is extremely simple and immediate solution to the lack of water, and its attendant hygiene and sanitation problems. It exemplifies the Appropriate Projects model to implement small development projects based on fixing what is broken or adding to existing infrastructure.

Dollar Amount of Project
$140.00

Donations Collected to Date
$140.00

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 Melissa Hunt of your donation. Additional funds will be used to fund the next project by Melissa and/or those of her counterpart PCVs in Senegal.

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

Community Description
Balori is a small farming community located about 25 kilometers from the district capital of Saraya, in the southeast corner of Sénégal in the region of Kédougou. The community has a population of about 300 people.

The people of Balori are subsistence based farmers and live in an area that is distant from centralized services, including government and health services. For about four months a year the village is completely blocked off from services due to rivers and poor roads.

Between late January and early June of each year, the groundwater level decreases and the current well for the village often runs dry. There is a lack of sufficient water for basic hygiene and other everyday activities.

Project Description
This project is to build an additional covered well in the community. It will be dug to an increased depth of approximately 12 meters, so that water will be available throughout the entire year.

The well will be located near the edge of town not far from the present well. This site was chosen because it was known to have water.

The well will be built with a combination of brick and cement, with the upper half meter done with brick and the rest of the lining done with cement molds.

Two well diggers and masons from Kédougou(the regional capital) will come to the village to do the work.

The community will provide funds for some of the cement, along with lodging and food for the masons during the construction of the well. The community will also contribute labor to construct the bricks to be used at the mouth of the well.

Project funds will be used to pay the well diggers, to purchase materials (including cement, rebar and steel wire), to transport the materials to Balori from Saraya the district capital, and to construct the cement molds and the mouth of the well.

Project Impact
The project will benefit all 300 people in the village.

Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Chris Brown

Comments
The people of Balori will obtain needed access to potable water, especially during the dry season.

There is a great amount of community participation, which will ensure a commitment to the project, and makes it likely that the well will be maintained to provide sustained benefit.

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 Chris Brown of your donation. Additional funds will be used to fund the next project by Chris and/or those of his counterpart PCVs in Senegal.

Community Description
The hamlet of Setzucl is located 260 kilometers from Guatemala City and 53 kilometers from Coban, the departmental capital.

The village, comprised of 64 families, is extremely rural and the main source of income is agricultural production of corn, beans, cardamom and coffee. The people of Setzucl are Kekchi and the language spoken primarily is Kekchi.

The inhabitants tend to be poor and with very few people being able to speak or write Spanish. While there are a number of houses constructed of concrete blocks, the majority of people live in houses made of wooden boards or tin, with tin roofs.

The elementary school of Aldea Setzucl, with 125 students, is part of the Healthy Schools Program, under the auspices of the Ministry of Education and the Peace Corps. For the past 3 years, the school has made great progress in complying with the requirements and goals of the program.

Project Description
This project is the construction of an eight-faucet hand-washing station at the school that will connect to a previously-built tank fed by a water catchment system.

The station will enable the school to comply with the Healthy Schools Program, which requires daily hand washing and tooth brushing.

Project Impact
125 students will directly benefit from the project and 275 people in the village will indirectly benefit.

Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Jareau Hall

Comments
This is an important project that will build upon the work that has been done by the community and the school to improve hygiene and sanitation. The value of such a project has been proven over time, both in the impact upon public health and the motivation of the people to continue to do small community and school development projects.

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 Jareau Hall of your donation. Additional funds will be used to fund the next project by Jareau and/or those of his counterpart PCVs in Guatemala.

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

Community Description
Boribo district is a small district town in the Kampong Chhnang province of the Kingdom of Cambodia. It is located about 120 kilometers, or 2.5 hours northwest of Phnom Pehn city, and is comprised of nine communes.

Boribo has a fairly well known market, known as Ponley Psah, a health center facility, and a large high school with over 3,000 students. Situated about 10 kilometers from “The Great Lake” or Tonle Sap, most families subsist on a diet of rice, vegetables, and fish.

Because of the location to the Tonle Sap, many people are able to generate income by working as fishermen. However, most residents in Boribo, like the rest of the country, live as subsistence rice farmers.

The health facilities in Boribo include a hospital, health center, and the “Operational District” office. The operational district oversees all the administration that goes on in the eight surrounding commune health centers.

The hospital, which opened in January 2010, sees over 100 patients a month and births over 200 babies a month. Unfortunately, the hospital is lacking doctors, surgical tools, and an ambulance.

The health center, where community members are able to come in for consultation and treatment of diarrhea, dehydration, and vaccinations sees over 1,000 patients per month.

The Boribo health center has an adequate supply of fresh water, but has no treatment facility to supply drinking water to patients. A rain water tank, which was built in 1968, holds enough fresh water year round and is hooked up by PVC pipes to the health center and hospital buildings.

Project Description
This project is to build a water supply and filtration system to provide safe water to the hospital and health center. Two drinking water stations will be built, one outside the maternity ward and the other outside the health center.

The hospital and health center will purchase two water filters from the NGO Hagar at a subsidized rate. Project funds will be used to purchase materials for the project, and the work will be done by a local NGO, REA (Rural Education Association).

Project Impact
This project will benefit 1,200 hospital patients, 2,400 new babies and their families and 12,000 health center patients per year. In addition, 15 surrounding families who do not have access to water during the dry season will be served.

Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Keiko Valente

Comments
This is a critically-needed high-impact project that builds on the existing infrastructure. With the water tank in place, all that is needed is to purify the water and install and connect drinking water stations in appropriate locations.

This is the second project of Peace Corps Volunteer Keiko Valente. To read about her first, the Kraubau Well Project – Cambodia, CLICK HERE.

Dollar Amount of Project
$493.00

Donations Collected to Date
$493.00

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

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