In a remote mountain village called Kakonso, I got a bit caught up in the moment and promised some really cute kids that I would have a well built for the school in their village, where they currently have no access to clean water.
Update as of 6/9/2014 : Kakonso Village now has clean water to drink
With clean water, far fewer people will be sick from water borne diseases in this beautiful little corner of the world. No one said it would be easy. Unfortunately the drilling team found some difficulty, drilling 5 bore holes before finally hitting water.
The sixth hole that they dug hit water but a very low flow rate and contaminated with clay. Check it out:
The equipment for the well that you see above was removed, since the well wasn’t deemed viable and Coco got most of the money refunded form the drilling group. Fortunately another group with a different drilling technique had better success. Here is the other well setup, when it was nearly ready to go.
From Coco’s last report, this well is now perfectly functional and Kakonsoso village has clean clear water to drink. Yahoo! We’ll probably have some more updates from Coco, but I think we can call it cased closed on Kakonso for now. Again, so much thanks to everyone for all of your help solving this problem. Please stay tuned for the next project….
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Here’s how it started:
Since I’m presently an unemployed surfer living in a tent, I’m not exactly in a position to be funding village infrastructure projects. So, I’ve shot my mouth off to feel like a hero and now I want you, the person reading this post to help bail me out. Sound fair?
See what I mean about the cuteness?
This is Coco. He’s the Hero.
I met him surfing at Bureh Beach near Freetown, where told me about the schools he was building in the severely impoverished Wara Wara mountains and he convinced me to come for a visit. He operates the Wara Wara Community Schools Project on a shoestring, barely pulling a salary to bring the most bang for donors bucks to the people of this region.
There are all kinds of good ways to spend your hard earned cash, so I’ll give you a few reasons that you should use a bit of it here.
In 2013, the UN Human Development Index (HDI) ranked Sierra Leone 177 of 187 nations assessed. Sixty-three percent of the population lives on less than $1.25 a day. The province of Wara Wara Bafodea is one of the country’s poorest – it makes the Freetown peninsula beach villages with their burgeoning tourist industry look well-off by comparison. Wara Wara province has about 30,000 inhabitants spread over some 150 villages, many of which are very difficult to access due to the steep mountainous terrain. Coco rides a 125cc dirt bike everywhere. There are no hospitals. Two nurses and one paramedic serve the entire area. Less than half of the the rural population of Sierra Leone has access to clean water and more than 20,000 children under the age of 5 die every year from a water related illnesses across the country.
The primary school enrollment rate is one of the lowest in Sierra Leone as the government fails to address existing schooling needs. This is what the Kakonso school was like before Coco arrived.
Now it looks like this.
People here live in a beautiful natural setting in very basic mud brick houses with thatched or corrugated tin roofs.
This is the water source for the school and in fact the entire village.
These are some of the kids who live here.
Their warmth completely disarmed me. If you were standing in the same spot as me, you might also have found it hard to simply walk away. It’s likely that without a clean water source, some of the kids that live in Kakonso village will die of a water borne disease. But that doesn’t have to happen. Let’s help these people.
This is the spot in Kakonso village where we want to drill the well, just below the new school.
Once drilled, it will be sealed with a concrete cap and a high quality hand pump installed to and bring water from about 100 feet or so below the surface. It will provide clean water to the more than 400 people in and around Kakonso village.
It will cost $4500 dollars to build and maintain this well. I told Coco that I would have the funds for the well by the time I reach Cape Town in June, 2014, so time is short.
If you like reading this blog as much as I like writing it, you can ensure that it continues by not making me pay for this well myself! In return, I’ll provide images and updates from the people of the Kakonso village so that you can see first-hand the good that your hard earned cash has done.
Sold yet? Come on…. give 20 bucks. I’m just going to keep interrupting the moto and surfing stuff until you do, like a funding drive on NPR. I might even call you at home like Ira Glass does.
A few clicks can change these people’s lives. Hit the button below to make donation via Paypal and be part of the team to help get this done. In June, the cash will go from this Paypal account to the Wara Wara Community Schools non-profit.
Leave a comment if you like, so we can all know who is making this happen. I’ll keep this post at the top of the blog and update regularly with our progress.
It reminds me what a privilege at hot shower is when these kids don’t have the privilege of a clean glass of water from a tap.
Thanks to Jamie for the very first donation!
Wow, the ADVrider gang sure is quick on the draw!
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?p=23521644#post23521644
thanks so much for the donations guys!
Good luck, Gary! Keep up the good work!
Thanks for the donation Emily!
We’re at $1256 guys – fantastic start!
Hey Gary,
I’ve caught glimpses of your journey and I am totally inspired! What a grand adventure! You have a unique perspective others can really appreciate. Way to go!
Take care –
Amy
This is a great cause. Its wonderful to see people opening up their hearts to help these people. Namaste
@Amy – glad to hear it, makes it all the more fun to share! take care Amy
@Freda – yep. makes me happy to know.
thanks so much for the donations.
The Campo family pow-wowed at breakfast and are donating $10 per family member. We were all really moved by the story. Good job Gary! Love Jorine, Marc, Jackson, Bradyn and Maverick.
It was the picture of the old school, and the blackboard covered in chalk that did it for me. No matter what, here are people who are trying.
Godspeed Gary. Thanks for totally inspiring blog. Keep posting!
Hi Gary, hi friends!!!
Thank you very much for all your support, this waterwell will definitely change the lives of many children and adults in Kakonso village!!!
Gary keep surfing!!!!!
Thanks a lot 🙂
Coco
Un fuerte abrazo, Coco, desde Madrid.
@Jorine – Kakonso village is so lucky you for your big brood!
@Matt – thanks so much!
@ Coco – we’re well on the way to making it happen!
Would like to see pictures of the well build with a little sign funded by ADVRider folks, 100 $ sent
I’m taking notes so standby because I think ya’ll will be gettin’ some similiar requests from us in Liberia with the Peace Corps. Good cause Gary! I’d pay $20 just to follow you along your journey and vicariously share the adventure…..
Sorry used a different name in ADVRider
I congratulate Coco for his excellent work, his enthusiasm, his dedication for the poor people in Sierra Leone.
I just recently watched a short documentary about the most dangerous way to school. Kids in Kenia (ok not Sierra Leone) had to walk many hours to go to school, one girl 8 years alone 20 kms through the prairee, with dangerous animals, she walked 5 hours, other kids walked 3 hours for 10 kms again passing dangerous areas were leopards hang out, having had only a bit of milk from the cows udder in the morning, even in the school there was no food for them, and they mentioned that they were hungry all day.
That was really sad to watch…
Just an example that help in Africa is greatly needed.
$20 is just over a weeks worth of daily newspapers here in the UK. Reading your updates has provided me with far more smiles than reading the newspapers for a week so I’ve cancelled the papers and you get the $20. Well done for being inspirational, following your dreams and also making a difference. You are a true role model. Thank you.
What an amazing journey – good luck!
I wish you the best with this project and praise your efforts to help the kids at Sierra Leone.
Keep up the Great Work !!
Mark
Great ride and even greater initiative!
Hi, Gary!
Jess passed along the word and I wanted to help. You’re doing great work!
Take care and be safe,
Julie
Proud of you Gary!
@Ryan -looking forward to hearing about you and Kelly in Liberia!
@Cooperman – I’m just the messenger – glad that the message was well received 😉
@Julie. heya! Thanks so much to both you and Jess – love to see you both again back in CA!
@theBring thanks buddy, its a privilege to do it.
I followed a link to the surfermag forum which lead me to a post about your advrider blog which lead me here. $20 is nothing and im stoked to see that you’ve almost reached the target already. Love the story and pictures! Keep it up! erik – norway
awesome guys – thanks again for the support – well construction has begun! See above for the update.
The recent Ebola made this country and these people more miserable…
I’ve heard some about it from friends working there and it is really too bad and isn’t exactly going to help get their tourism going..