The Barina Agricultural Secondary School is construction a quarters to house 10 teachers and staff near the school, a convenience that has helped the School recruit 4 new teachers to join the faculty. Bank On Rain installed a RWH system in 2011 which now

Narrative

The Barina Agricultural School, like so many schools in Sierra Leone, needs to attract quality teachers, and one very good way to do this is by building residential teachers quarters. However at the Barina school there was no safe water source near the proposed new teacher’s quarters. The closest water source is the Rain Water Harvesting (RHW) system, which Bank On Rain installed 2 years prior at the school. The installed system has been successfully providing water for the school since September 2011 but has inadequate storage capacity for additional usage by the teachers, and it is too distant from the new teacher’s quarters.

Coupled with this, teachers in Sierra Leone often wait unreasonable lengths of time to be paid, as a result of being compensated by the government. In these cases, provided housing will still attract qualified teachers to a school. So, having a water source at the new teacher’s quarters at Barina was critical to getting qualified staff.

It is relevant here to note that there have been several severe outbreaks of cholera in Sierra Leone during the past 12 months, resulting in nearly 400 deaths from contaminated water supplies (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Sierra_Leonean_cholera_outbreak).

WHAT/HOW:

Bank On Rain (BOR) decided to utilize the teachers, and local workers, in building their own RWH system, with the idea they would later be able to replicate the system elsewhere at other schools ~ which is what has happened ~ and learn to maintain, repair and monitor a system which they had built themselves.

Our decision to build the water storage tank with locally available materials resulted in the 10,000 liter tank for the teacher’s quarters being constructed from ISSB (Interlocking Stabilized Soil Blocks) blocks. This was an excellent suggestion, which came from Global Women’s Water Initiative, one of our peers at PWX, and resulted in BOR buying an ISSB press from Makiga Engineering in Kenya and having it shipped to the Barina school. This enabled BOR to train locals, and to build 3 tanks at 2 schools in the area; two projects which had already been funded.

A brief review of the How: (more details in the field notes)

The 10,000 liter ISSB tank was constructed between May - August 2013, and has been fully operational since mid August. The foundation was poured cement, and the walls were built of ISSB blocks; with construction of the actual tank by two local stone masons. The soil and cement blocks (9 parts soil to 1 part Portland cement), were fabricated by the teachers and students at the school using the ISSB press. The tank interior was then plastered with waterproof cement, and the exterior was covered with a wire mesh plastered with the same waterproof cement. A roof or ‘lid’ incorporating a secure metal access hatch was constructed from steel-reinforced cement (see a video in the field notes for CIC school) The gutter and plumbing supplies were purchased locally in Freetown and installed at the direction of the BOR team which visited in August.

Eric Silverman, the BOR ‘man on the ground’, successfully motivated the teachers, students and the two masons to receive training on the first tank for the Barina school, in return for meals. They were motivated with pay to create the blocks, transport them to the site, and build two more tanks at the CIC school, about 6 hours distant. (CIC school is part of the non-profit Schools for Salone) Funding for both the Barina project and the CIC School was from BOR. This funding covered the materials, the ISSB press, transportation of the bricks, meals, and pay for all the workers who built the tanks.

WHO:
Planning and construction for the project was managed and by Eric Silverman, a Peace Corps volunteer at the Barina School, directing a team of 10 teachers & students from the school, assisted by 2 local masons. Eric with the help of the two senior teachers oversaw the entire construction process from foundation preparation, soil analysis, building the bricks with the ISSB machine, constructing the tank and tank roof, to completion and operation. It is currently successfully collecting and storing rainwater, and is a source of pride by the teachers at the school.

RESULTS:
• A fully operational RWH system for the teacher’s quarters at the Barina school,
• The school is able to attract & retain qualified teachers with the newly built residential teachers quarters & operational RWH system,
• Training on the tank was done at minimal cost, by willing participants with food as compensation,
• Additional blocks were made for 2 tanks in another school 6 hours distant, with compensation at 523 le (US$ 0.12) per block. (new concept: work for pay: a great motivator!),
• Teachers, students and masons gained real-life know-how to build RWH systems, making them more employable in the future.
• Certificates of Proficiency issued by Bank On rain for all 10 contributors (making them more employable!).