Africa Projects - Wherever the Need

Africa Projects

Poetry for Water

Text Box: 1.1 billion people still do not have any access to clean drinking water.

A September 2006 fundraising benefit organized by Wherever the Need board member and poet Roger Housden raised more than $6,000 that provided a borewell, handpump and five public toilets to the African village of Njabema.

This village previously had a handpump which was destroyed during the civil war that ravaged Sierra Leone a few years ago. Following the end of the war refugees who returned to their village have had to drink from a nearby polluted river. Sadly, as a result of drinking the contaminated water an average of one child each month died from gastrointestinal diseases and parasites. Since the installation of the new water source no children have died in the village.

The five toilets are a first for the village and the sustainable design may be the first of its kind in the country. The eco-sanitation method composts human waste making it practical to use on crops when fully composted.

A second Poetry for Water benefit was held in June of 2007 and raised over $10,000. That amount will bring clean drinking water, eco-san toilets and rainwater harvesting systems to a larger village in Sierra Leone called Helebu. You are invited to view a ten-minute film about the work WTN is doing in Sierra Leone on YouTube at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOuESYshKbk.

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