Water, Sanitation & Hygiene

While her mates would walk into the kitchen, turn the tap on and get a glass of safe and clean water, or walk to the fridge and grab a bottle of mineral water, 13-year-old Ballay gets water from a contaminated swamp, a few minutes’ walk from her village in Bombali District. When the swamp dries out during the dry season, the youth in Ballay’s community mobilise to dig artificial streams on different locations around the swamp area, and pray they get lucky enough one of the artificial streams flows water.

The over 300 people living in Ballay’s community depend on this stream. Goats and sheep have their turn to drink the water from the stream, when humans are not around. Although the stream caused them pain in the past, they had no choice but to continue drinking from that source. ‘’ My stomach would ache. I would throw up and go to the toilet very frequently, ‘’ said Ballay.

The vast majority of people of Sierra Leone still do not have access to safe and clean water, and rural poor communities cannot afford to buy purified water in bottles and sachets. Even if they could, accessing it is difficult. They would have to travel to big towns and cities in order to buy.

Transportation cost to and from where they will be buying is also another serious issue. Also, if they have money, water is not a priority. They would rather buy food for the home and continue drinking water from unsafe sources throughout a given year.  A bottle of purified water costs about $0.49 USD, and a bundle of water sachets costs around $ 0.68 USD.

Ballays parents (Tamba and Sarah), are both farmers whose earnings are not enough to cater for all the family’s needs. Luckily enough, Ballay is a sponsored child in ChildFund’s sponsorship program in Bombali district. Ballay and her community benefit from ChildFund’s intervention in the Bombali District. In 2019, ChildFund, through donation from Procter and Gamble, began addressing some of the water challenges associated with water through the introduction of the P&G purifier of water sachets.

 The P&G water purification technology is an amazing innovation that quickly turns 10 liters of dirty, potentially deadly water into clean and drinkable water. According to P&G, the water purification sachet is further known for: eliminating disease causing microorganisms; removing more than 99.99999% of common waterborne bacteria (including those that cause cholera), 99.99% of common waterborne viruses (including those that cause hepatitis A) and 99.9% of protozoa, reducing diarrheal disease incidence in the developing world by up to 90% removing dirt and other pollutants, making clean drinking water for the entire family, including infants.

Ballay’s mother has been trained on mixing the sachets. ‘’I am willingly learning from my mother; in case she is not around to mix it for us. I am also learning so I can teach my little brother, Dennis, and my friends, too. I can mix the P&G all by myself now.’’ I do not have to wait until my mother comes home before I can drink water. I do not want to be tempted to drink the unpurified stream water.’’

Ballay has been very sensitive to changes in watercolor, smell, and taste since using P&G. ‘’The water from the stream, when not purified, has some renky smell, is dark, and has so much dirt in it. But after the P&G solution, the water looks cleaner, fresh and has no smell. Watercolor, taste and smell have changed since we started using P&G. From the purification process, the dirt dissolves under the water,’’ Ballay observes.

Ballay’s community is one among several communities known for utilizing the P&G solution. The already prepared P&G solution is found almost on the entrance of every home. In-dwellers and visitors alike drink from the purified source.

Ballay, now in Junior Secondary School 3 (JSS3) in her community in Bombali, would like to be an architect and building contractor when she grows up. She is also mindful of her protection from contaminated stream water in and out of school. ‘’I like the fact that my school has the P&G solution and all the necessary utensils to process the water. I want to be protected at school and at home. I want the same for my classmates.’’