Clean water for village of Pana |
Construction of a new borehole to provide clean water to the rural community at Pana in Northern Togo is underway as part of a rural drinking water programme being supported by Self Help Africa in the country.
The entire programme, delivering 16 new boreholes and rehabilitating three others, will provide a safe and clean water supply for upwards of 5,000 people. The work is being funded by Self Help Africa and implemented by local partners TRAX Togo.
At Pana village, more than 600 local residents will benefit from the scheme, which is costing upwards of €9,000 to construct.
Funding support for this project is being provided by the Community Foundation of Ireland, who are supporting the provision of three rural water sources in Northern Togo, this year.
A number of other agencies, including Electric Aid, the staff fund charity of the Irish Electricity Supply Board, the Guernsey Overseas Aid Committee and the Memorial Fund for the late Ali Gale have supported work to improve water supplies to communities in rural Togo, while major funding support for the rural development programme in Togo is being provided by the UK Big Lottery Fund.
As well as funding the costs of construction, the programme has seen several traditional wells being repaired and rehabilitated, and has supported the organisation and training of local well management committees.
‘It is vital for these wells are cared for and properly managed when they have been built’, says Jean Claude Wedrago of Self Help Africa. ‘This is up to the local people, who take on the responsibility for future upkeep’, he says.
At Pana, villagers currently must walk a half kilometre to the nearest available water source, and often have to queue for several hours before drawing water.
It is a situation that the householders in neighbouring Nadiog village are familiar with, as they must walk for more than a two kilometers to the nearest well at Bishenga, or else draw from the banks of a nearer river.
Kolani Paligadiin, who walks twice daily with her 25 litre gerry cans to gather water says that she is happy for the villagers at Pana, but would like to see the same benefits coming to her village also.
‘Gathering water has been a way of life here for generations, so I am happy that the people of Pana will be released from this burden’, she says. |
