Senegal

Location
Lao, Kolda, Senegal

Community Description
Off of a dusty dirt road an hour and a half from the city is a bustling small town called Thiewol Lao. From the outset one may not think anything special of the place, but once one mounts the hill they see nothing but green on either side on the decline. This is a feat in the hot season months.

Thiewol Lao is one of the 4 Master Farmer sites in Kolda. A master farmer receives instruction, funding, and ongoing support from Peace Corps Volunteers and Staff to develop one hectare of farmland into a demonstration plot. They display best practices with field crops, gardening, fruit trees, and natural resource management. The manifest success of these combined practices on one farm by an enthusiastic Senegalese farmer create an effective demonstration and inspiration for other farmers to adapt the practices as well.

Gano is a very successful master farmer and has absorbed all of the best practices. Even in the heart of hot season he is out working his garden and has high yields as proof of his success. Though he is the owner of the farm, his accomplishments are not solely his own to claim. His wife and children work just as hard and when one watches their work there is nothing to feel but hope for the future. Those in Thiewol Lao speak highly of Gano and what they have learned from his training days. Many of the women now use compost in their own gardens.

Project Description
We are installing a rope pump on one of the wells at the demonstration site. The well connects to 3 basins via PVC pipe. There is a small basin attached to the well where one drains water that then flows to the other 3 basins. The water pump will make the basins fill a bit faster with less effort.

Project Impact
12 men, women and children will benefit from the project.

Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Marcie Todd, Mary Cadwallender and David Gloveski

Comments
The installation of the pump will not only help directly with Gano’s garden but will be proliferated through his passing on of the technology as part of his teaching effort.

Dollar Amount of Project
$150.00

Donations Collected to Date
$150.00

Dollar Amount Needed
$0.00 - This project has now been fully funded through the generosity of Paul Jackson, of Worcestershire, United Kingdom.

Paul was cameraman and editor of the great video produced by Claudio Von Planta that features Water Charity, filmed at the Water/Wo/Men event in the Maldives.

If you now contribute $150 (our new price, which includes labor), your name will be placed on the waiting list to adopt the next project in order.

If you wish to contribute less than $150, the money will be applied toward the overall program.

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

Location
Sincan Samba Koulibaly, Kolda, Senegal

Community Description
Facing the Kolda cotton factory is a quartier called Samba Koulibaly, named after a Malian man who, years before the cotton factory, arrived when there was not even a paved road going through Kolda. Samba Koulibaly’s namesakes will probably remain the chiefs of the quartier until the end of time.

The cotton factory is the largest employer in Kolda, where jobs are among the most secure that one can attain. Although it is only seasonal work, they pay nicely, and one knows that for 5 months there will be a steady income.

Mohamadou Djamanka until recently worked in a factory in Spain where he sent money back to his family. He now owns a boutique facing of the cotton factory where he works every day from 7 am to 11:30 pm, unless it is cotton-processing season. During that time his two wives take turns manning the boutique and he crosses the street to work, clothed from head to toe, ready for the work at hand.

All year long Mohamadou’s wives and kids grow vegetables in a small plot near their house. They usually have enough to eat and a bit to sell. They are the definition of urban gardening, here in Kolda.

Many Koldans grow everyday veggies, but many more only grow essential grains like rice, corn, and millet during rainy season. Mohamadou and his family believe they should be saving money on vegetables and growing them themselves.

One day while I was hanging out at Mohamadou’s boutique he showed me the math of the money he was saving each month by gardening in his small plot and it was upwards of $27, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but is.

Project Description
This project is to build a pump at a well that is used to irrigate the plot worked by Mohamadou Djamanka and his family.

Project Impact
14 men, women, and children will benefit from the project.

Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Marcie Todd

Comments
“The food situation in Senegal and throughout the world is in a dire state. Rising food prices combined with a limited availability of food has led to misery and malnutrition, rapidly hitting the world’s poorest and developing populations the hardest. In Senegal, with nearly half of all families considered “food insecure” by the World Food Program and half the population living in large towns and cities, there is a growing need for individuals and families to produce their own food.”
Peace Corps Senegal, Urban Agriculture Website.

Dollar Amount of Project
$100.00

Donations Collected to Date
$100.00

Dollar Amount Needed
$0.00 - This project has now been fully funded through the generosity of Katherine White, of Ojai, CA, USA.

If you now contribute $150 (our new price, which includes labor), your name will be placed on the waiting list to adopt the next project in order.

If you wish to contribute less than $150, the money will be applied toward the overall program.

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

Location
Saare Dagua, Kaolack, Senegal

Community Description
The village of Saare Dagua is located within walking distance of Thiawando, only about one kilometer away. Immediately after we installed #11, several prominent members of the village came to see it and started inquiring about getting one of their own. By immediately we mean they came for lunch and tea the same day we finished the install.

Villages in Senegal are tied together very closely often intermarrying and sharing in all sorts of ceremonies and traditions. This means that even if there is only a dirt path between them, news like a new pump travels instantly. By the end of our traditional three rounds of tea together we had promised to come back and take a look at least.

Thiawando has a fairly diverse population of many different ethnicities. Saare Dagua on the other hand is 100% Pulaar. As such they are primarily herders and have a lot of cattle. As Pulaars they also have a very strong joking relationship with Sereres. My Senegalese village and language is Serere so I got plenty of jokes from the elders about how much millet and beans I like to eat (Trust me this joke is very funny here). The joking is always lighthearted as Sereres and Pulaars intermarry and often speak each other’s languages and we quickly put our differences aside and got down to business.

Project Description
This project is to install a pump at the community well in Saare Dagua.

This is a central well which is used by the entire village to water their cattle. There is a nearby basin just far enough from the well that it is not being used, but close enough that with a pump and extended pipe they could fill it easily and more efficiently and regularly provide water for the cattle. The well is the closest clean fresh water source for drinking and washing as well.

Project Impact
All 340 members of the village will benefit from the increased efficiency of pulling water.

Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Garrison Harward and C.J. Pederson

Comments
With the close proximity of this pump to the two in Thiawando and with their close inter-village partnerships this pump will have a great built-in support system to ensure its maintenance and proper use into the future.

Dollar Amount of Project
$100.00

Donations Collected to Date
$100.00

Dollar Amount Needed
$0.00 - This project has now been fully funded through the generosity of Vicki Ringer, of Woodland Hills, CA, USA.

If you now contribute $150 (our new price, which includes labor), your name will be placed on the waiting list to adopt the next project in order.

If you wish to contribute less than $150, the money will be applied toward the overall program.

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

Location
Thiawando, Kaolack, Senegal

Community Description
Pump #11 was our first project in this village, and if you go back and look at some of the pictures you’ll notice it was quite a bit greener the first time around. That’s the difference here between the rainy season and dry season, and why access to water is so incredibly crucial for local populations. Here in Thiawando things are very hot and dry but the population is still just as wonderful, hospitable, and hopeful as ever.

They are still hoping to start a community garden around the first well, but even before that happens several individuals are gardening in their homes and the pump is being thoroughly appreciated by the local cattle. It had some problems briefly and the women were up in arms until the village repaired it showing just how appreciated it was.

This is a village of over 800 people and with such a large population one pump on one well is helpful but it isn’t fully meeting the needs here.

Project Description
There is a second well in the village about 100 m from the first which is actually slightly shallower and larger. This means that the pump should work even better here than on the first well.

The plan is to install this second pump to further increase access to fresh clean water and facilitate the future establishment of a second gardening space. This pump will also help to provide those living on the outskirts of the village with closer access to water. An extra 100 m to walk to the far pump doesn’t sound like all that much, but it sure feels like a lot with 40 liters of water on your head.

Project Impact
All 800 residents will benefit from the project.

Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Garrison Harward and C.J. Pederson

Comments

Dollar Amount of Project
$100.00

Donations Collected to Date
$100.00

Dollar Amount Needed
$0.00 - This project has now been fully funded through the generosity of Vicki Ringer, of Woodland Hills, CA, USA.

If you now contribute $150 (our new price, which includes labor), your name will be placed on the waiting list to adopt the next project in order.

If you wish to contribute less than $150, the money will be applied toward the overall program.

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

Location
Faraba, Kolda, Senegal

Community Description
Smack in the middle of two villages is a vast stretch of farmland. About 95 men and women farm here during the rainy season, but only 7 garden during the dry season because of a lack of water. The 7 lucky gardeners own plots near the river so during the dry season they easily pull water. One of these plots, owned by Mamadou Barry (who we learned about in the last post) and Ballal Agribusiness, is serving as a Moringa garden, community learning space, and a women’s group garden. This is the second of the two pumps installed here.

Project Description
We are placing a second water pump in the Faraba Moringa Garden to enable the women’s group that works there to start its own vegetable garden. The members will plant onions, okra, and hot pepper then harvest and sell them in the Kolda market.

Project Impact
18 women and 7 men and their families will benefit from the project.

Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Jacob Rice, Gregg Mathews, Mary Martin-Mabry, and Marcie Todd

Comments
This will greatly benefit the nutrition of the families in the group by providing adequate water to irrigate the vegetable garden during the dry season.

Dollar Amount of Project
$100.00

Donations Collected to Date
$100.00

Dollar Amount Needed
$0.00 - This project has now been fully funded through the generosity of Julia Chung-Lun, of Sydney, Australia, in honor of Jacqueline Chan, USA.

If you now contribute $150 (our new price, which includes labor), your name will be placed on the waiting list to adopt the next project in order.

If you wish to contribute less than $150, the money will be applied toward the overall program.

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

Location
Faraba, Senegal

Community Description
Meet Mamadou Barry, Abou and Jacob. Mamadou Barry has a huge passion for Senegal and particularly Kolda. His interests include: farming okra, beans, and rice, in addition to setting up community/youth -programs to prevent the dreaded “brain drain.”

Mamadou is a sort of jack-of-all-trades. He has started a kindergarten, a theater troop, a farm for youth, and a cowpea buying and selling business, all of which have been successful. He is ambitious, kind and we are lucky to be working with him.

Abou is Barry’s right-hand-man; you rarely see one without the other. Abou is tall, loves to read and write, and is more technical than social. The two couldn’t be more opposite, but they balance each other fully.

Abou is designing and building his own house, has been a sheep herder, owned a mango orchard and is one of the best tinkerers in Senegal.

Jacob is an Agricultural Peace Corps Volunteer serving in the Kolda, Senegal. He lives in Medina Abdoul, a rural village 40 km outside the regional capital where he organizes initiatives to promote food security and sustainable agriculture techniques. He graduated from the University of California at Davis where he studied World Trade and Development in Developing Countries. He’s entrepreneurial-minded and likes to break a sweat playing in the dirt. One day he hopes to start a venture capital firm focused on developing markets.

These are the main folks that make up Agribusiness. Agribusiness has been working with women’s groups providing them technical support in growing cowpeas and this year they are expanding their business to include Moringa powder and oil production. Installing two pumps in their 4 hectare space will help them water over 750 trees this year with plans of over a million in the coming year.

Moringa Powder is made by drying and then pounding leaves. The powder is an incredibly healthy supplement that can be added to almost every meal just as one would add pepper. It prevents malnutrition and even tastes good.

Project Description
This is kind of a special pump because Agribusiness does so many cool things for the Kolda Community so these posts just explain who they are, while the #18 posts will talk more about Moringa and the benefits. Appropriate Projects also gave this group a grant for digging wells done by Jacob Rice and Gregg Mathews.

Project Impact
432 people will benefit from this project.

Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Marcie Todd, Jacob Rice, Gregg Mathews and Mary Martin-Mabry

Comments
Moringa Powder is made by drying and then pounding leaves. The powder is an incredibly healthy supplement that can be added to almost every meal just as one would add pepper. It prevents malnutrition and even tastes good.

Dollar Amount of Project
$100.00

Donations Collected to Date
$100.00

Dollar Amount Needed
$0.00 - This project has now been fully funded through the generosity of Cynthia J. Davidson of Chico, CA, USA.

If you now contribute $150 (our new price, which includes labor), your name will be placed on the waiting list to adopt the next project in order.

If you wish to contribute less than $150, the money will be applied toward the overall program.

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

Location
Daro Keur Ibrahima Signane, Fatick, Senegal

Community Description
This project is being implemented in the community of Daro Keur Ibrahima Signane, which was described in Project 15.

Pump number 16 completes the 5 pumps in 5 days series. Darou Keur Ibrahima Signane (DKIS for short) is a true community space. Within the hectare are 83 plots owned by 78 families, as almost each family in DKIS gardens. Most of the garden is used to produce for the village while 10 percent of the garden space is marked off for market gardening and selling at DKIS local market.

Each day of the week in roadside towns across Senegal is a local market called a luumo. Luumo is where many people in villages go to buy their produce for the week as well as other essentials such as clothes, furniture, and rope. Luumos carry a lot of the products to the village that can only be found in bigger cities. This saves villagers from having to travel to a city. Also, the luumo gives producers access to a market close to home to sell their products. At the luumo DKIS sells hot peppers and green peppers.

Project Description
The pump being installed here will be the second in this space, the first having been described under Project 15.

Project Impact
78 families will benefit from this project.

Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Garrison Harward, Marcie Todd, and Amy Watts

Comments
This project further proves the benefit of scale achieved from working on double pumps and pumps in a concentrated geographical area.

Dollar Amount of Project
$100.00

Donations Collected to Date
$100.00

Dollar Amount Needed
$0.00 - This project has now been fully funded through the generosity of Jacqueline Chan, of Crestline, CA, USA in honor of Heather Chan, of Uxbridge, Ontario, Canada.

If you now contribute $150 (our new price, which includes labor), your name will be placed on the waiting list to adopt the next project in order.

If you wish to contribute less than $150, the money will be applied toward the overall program.

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

Location
Daro Keur Ibrahima Signane, Fatick, Senegal

Community Description
Daro is located just off the laterite road going from Toubacouta to Saloum Diane. We first started looking into this village after the Keur Andallah pump when we literally stopped in on the bike ride home. As soon as we did and saw their broken down water pump, we knew Daro had to be part of the project.

The village is small, only about 300 people, and predominately Wolof, but like everywhere in this region there are a few Mandinkans, Sereres and Pulaars. There is a primary school which almost all the children attend and a substantial community garden established by a previous Peace Corps Volunteer. It is primarily an agricultural village and the people here are already excellent gardeners and farmers. They have had a wonderful relationship with Peace Corps over the years and are continually learning and expanding their efforts.

Project Description
The community garden provides 75 people with fenced in plots for vegetable production. It sits within a flood basin which means that the water table is very high and perfect for rope pumps. There are two wells in this space and thus we will be installing two rope pumps. Pump #16 will be the second in this space.

Project Impact
All 75 members of the group will benefit from increased access to water. This should lead to increased production which will then increase overall nutrition in the village for kids like these.

Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Garrison Harward, Marcie Todd, and Amy Watts

Comments
These pumps will decrease crowding around the well and speed up the process of watering, allowing more time to be devoted to trying new gardening techniques and increasing yields.

This is the first of two pumps in this space. We're going to be trying to do more double installs like this in order to fully meet the needs of our villages.

Dollar Amount of Project
$100.00

Donations Collected to Date
$100.00

Dollar Amount Needed
$0.00 - This project has now been fully funded through the generosity of Jacqueline Chan, of Crestline, CA, USA in honor of Steve Cockwell, of Uxbridge, Ontario, Canada.

If you now contribute $150 (our new price, which includes labor), your name will be placed on the waiting list to adopt the next project in order.

If you wish to contribute less than $150, the money will be applied toward the overall program.

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

Location
Dassilame Serere, Fatick, Senegal

Community Description
Yep we're back here in Dassilame Serere once again. We've already described quite a bit about this village, but this is a good opportunity to emphasize one last facet of its personality. Dassilame Serere is persistent! Ever since we installed the first pump here the village has been requesting more and pushing for us to repair 4 existing pumps.

We initially held off wanting to spread the pumps far and wide while in the meantime Garrison helped them with other projects such as tree nurseries and improved gardening techniques. They kept pushing though, and in the end that kind of persistence, enthusiasm and work ethic needs to be rewarded so here we are.

Project Description
This project is to repair 4 existing pumps.

Almost immediately after we installed the first pump, Lamine (our welder in Toubacouta) was approached by a private group wanting to install more pumps in the area. This was a great opportunity for Lamine and thus he simply couldn't refuse even though he really didn't have the skills to be installing pumps on his own yet. The site selected turned out to be a women's group in Dassilame Serere.

Of course we would have offered to help, as the overall goal of the project is to establish pump producers who can have a profitable small business doing installs on their own, but unfortunately Garrison was out of village at a Peace Corps conference, and didn't get back until the day of the install. At this point it was too late to influence much and things just didn't go well. Corners were cut, as Lamine and the funders tried to finish.

4 installs in one day and in the end only 3 pumps ever worked. To make matters worse, those 3 only worked for about a month before various problems cropped, up eventually making them completely unusable. In a way, as much as we would like to blame Lamine or the funders for the spotty work this is our mess to clean up too. We brought the technology to the area so it’s our responsibility to make sure it works.

Project Impact
All 65 members of the group will benefit from increased speed pulling water and thus less congestion at the well.

Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Garrison Harward and Marcie Todd

Comments
This is a 4 for the price of 1 deal! Since the pumps are already there all of the money goes to supplementary materials meaning that we can fix all 4 pumps for the price of 1!

For the future, there are two brand new wells being built here and if all goes well they could become part of our 52.

Dollar Amount of Project
$100.00

Donations Collected to Date
$100.00

Dollar Amount Needed
$0.00 - This project has now been fully funded through the generosity of Jacqueline Chan, of Crestline, CA, USA in honor of Mrs. Julia Chung-Lun, of Sydney, NSW, Australia.

If you now contribute $100, your name will be placed on the waiting list to adopt the next project in order.

If you wish to contribute less than $100, the money will be applied toward the overall program.

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

Location
Dassilame Serere, Fatick, Senegal

Community Description
Marcie describes:

Dassilame Serere was the location of our very first pump! It is located in the delta region of Senegal about 25 km north of The Gambia. Since we were last here things have been changing a lot, in a relative sense compared to the rate at which things normally change here.

There is now another large gardening group, extensive improved rice cultivation, and even some new small businesses popping up. We wish we could say this was all due to Peace Corps, but in reality there have been a lot of new NGO projects coming in. The community is very lucky but they work hard to deserve everything they're given, and it shows in the success of these projects.

Project Description
Marcie further describes:

We've come back here to install a second rope pump in Pape Diouf's women's garden. Pretty soon after the installation of the first pump Pape approached us asking if it would be possible to put a pump on the second well since its closer to many of the women's plots.

At first we were hesitant wanting to spread these pumps to as many villages as possible, but then it occurred to us that we may make a larger impact by installing within a smaller area and fully meeting the needs of the people there. This seems to be a better idea then only doing half the job in one garden in order to do half the job somewhere else. As such we are coming back to finish the job here!

On top of just the pump, Pape and Garrison are working on a basin project to help more easily distribute water out to the far corners of the field and fully take advantage of the increased efficiency the pumps bring.

Project Impact
All 54 members of the group will benefit from the increased efficiency of pulling water.

Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Garrison Harward and Marcie Todd

Comments
On top of the benefit to the women, the pump is also great for the campament and the tourist love it. It shows how innovative and forward thinking the village really is and is fun for the guests. Happy guests equals job security for the workers and a steady cash flow for upkeep which can be expensive after a hard rainy season.

Dollar Amount of Project
$100.00

Donations Collected to Date
$100.00

Dollar Amount Needed
$0.00 - This project has now been fully funded through the generosity of Caroline Fahmy of San Jose, CA, USA.

If you now contribute $100, your name will be placed on the waiting list to adopt the next project in order.

If you wish to contribute less than $100, the money will be applied toward the overall program.

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