Joliba Trust look to provide clean water in Mali

Chagford-based charity Joliba Trust are working with some of the poorest communities in Mali and are preparing to launch their ambitious fundraising campaign to build wells to provide clean water to thousands of people.

The remote rural region of Bandiagara has some of the poorest access to water in the world. Most villages are still dependent on unhygienic earth-dug wells for their water supply. These are collapsing in heavier, more prolonged monsoon rains, leaving villages in a desperate water crisis. Women and children can spend all day collecting water leaving no time to prepare food or earn a living. The crisis has been made more acute by villages taking in large numbers of refugees displaced by conflict. Joliba Trust aims to provide durable modern cement wells to rural villages. These have minimal running costs, which is important in poor communities, and allow a group of women to draw water at the same time, reducing queueing times. In the last decade Joliba Trust have built over 120 wells. The investment in providing long term clean drinking water was just 46p per person. They work with skilled water engineers, provide hygiene and well management training to communities, and the water quality of the wells is monitored.

Rhoda Dolo, Health Worker Batourou, said “After our well collapsed seven years ago, women were walking 10 kms on difficult footpaths at night to collect water. More than 10 women were killed by snake bites and there were other accidents. Thanks to you [Joliba Trust] we have a modern well which contains enough water for us and even for our neighbours.”

The campaign aims to build 20 wells in remote rural villages in Bandiagara region – all currently suffering from a water crisis and extreme poverty. There are currently 70 villages on Joliba Trust's waiting list suffering with an acute water shortage. Other aims include -

• Providing 20,000 people with access to clean water. This will reduce the risk of dysentery and water-borne diseases. In many villages families are currently unable to eat more than one meal a day because so much time is spent collecting water, so malnutrition will also be reduced.

• Reducing the time and energy spent by women and girls collecting water so that women can begin useful income-generating activities that will help them to support their families, and so that girls can go to school instead of having to help with the water chores.

• Reviving the economy of the villages. Without water it is not possible to keep livestock or to grow hand watered vegetables during the dry season, which are mainstays of the rural economy. As a result many of the men are forced to migrate to look for work and they may not be able to return.

• Providing water for people's essential needs. These include drinking water (in one of the world's hottest climates), water for cooking, washing, washing clothes, making mud bricks and carrying out repairs to their houses, and making compost so that people can grow sufficient crops.

Ogobara Saye, Village Chief, Sono-Dorodo, said “We tried to dig a well many times. Sometimes we dug to 20m without reaching water. For more than 20 years we have been looking for assistance. Thanks to you we have the most precious thing which is water. We can raise livestock, send our children to school, maintain our houses and build others.”

The campaign is looking to raise £80,000 to build 20 village wells with an average cost of £4,000, in villages with an acute water shortage. If the target is not met, less wells will be built. If it is exceeded, more wells will be built. The current waiting list is 70 wells. Joliba Trust has a long relationship of over 20 years with indigenous well-building engineers on the ground and it is not likely that well-building could not be carried out for any reason.

The impact of this project will be that women and girls will no longer have to spend many hours of the day and night collecting water. They will no longer be exhausted and will have time for worthwhile activities. Temperatures this year have frequently reached 48 degrees and the ground is now so hot and sandy that people have burnt their feet even with shoes on. Girls will be able to go to school, women will be able to earn an income, families will be able to eat two meals a day, and the economy of the village will be revived.

Fatoumata Sagara, Sossoni Women's Association, said: “Every day, healthy or sick, we were forced to get up at 5am to collect water. No children in Sossoni were able to go to school. Today for the first time in our lives we have a modern well and our children can go to school. Our dream has come true.”

Afietou Karambe, Dissoroly, commented: “The water chores alone took 9 hours time. We did not know what it was to rest. No-one can imagine what we endured during the five years of water insufficiency. Now that we have clean water we give thanks for this beautiful gift that has saved everybody.”

The campaign is due to launch on December 3 and is being run through the Big Give. When the public donates to a charity through a Big Give campaign, funders (philanthropists, foundations or corporates) are asked to match that donation. So £50 from a member of the public, becomes £100 for a good cause.

To donate, please visit https://donate.biggive.org/campaign/a056900002TPTUVAA5?c=83759