Construction works complete

As soon as the funds to complete the project reached our account we started immediately to further the construction, so that the tanks can at least store a little water, from the ending rainy-season.

By now the status is as follows:
RWHT in Mamama:
The roof has been fully constructed, the filtering tank has been built, the collectors fixed and connected. The tank is already gathering rainwater. The pumphead has not yet been fixed as the inside of the tank has to be cleaned properly first.

RWHT in Makande:
The tank in Makande is fully functional, but unfortunately the community has yet not been able to raise funds to fix the broken roof.
As we want to see the tank being used we are trying to find other sources to fix the roof. At the moment we are discussing the issue with UNICEF Sierra Leone. We might be able to include the renovation of this school in a future project. Yet nothing has been confirmed though.

Please take a look at the uploaded pictures.

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Crime Incidence disturbing completion of RHT construction

The proposed completion date has passed a while ago. The reason for this delay is a crime which was committed by one of our contractors. Mr. Abu Bakar Kamara, the mentioned contractor, received all materials necessary for the construction in Mamama and 70 percent of his salary in advance. Since our project doesn’t own an appropriate place to store materials, it seemed to be better to supply him all materials at once, so he could store them in the school at the location and work independently. By the time the contractor completed about 70 percent of the construction work he disappeared leaving no materials behind. After that we tried to trace him but unfortunately didn’t succeed. On top of that the contractor worked in a very bad manner, which caused us to redo some of the work which has already been done. Thereby material and personnel cost increased again.

Seeing ourselves responsible for those happenings, our staff didn’t receive any salaries for eight months to be able to cover the losses and the extra cost. Unfortunately the money gathered by that, wasn’t sufficient to pay to complete the construction. With an extraordinary support from Austria just before Christmas, we have been able to at least pay our staff five months salaries back. This was absolutely necessary as the situation turned out quite bad for our staff members at this time. Until now we haven’t been able to raise enough money from other sources to complete the tanks. Therefore we now have to admit, that we will not be able to cover for all the losses.

The status of construction of the two tanks is as following:
• Makande:
The tank is completed and the pump is installed. The collectors are there, but couldn’t be fixed yet, as the roof of the school wasn’t repaired by the community completely so far.
• Mamama:
The cover of the tank has not been constructed yet, as the construction materials and the pump were stolen. The collectors are there and can be fixed as soon as the tank is completed.

To be able to complete all constructions involved in the project we would need an additional fund of 3,237.93 US-Dollar.

We deeply regret to be in a position right now, where we have to ask for support again. But otherwise we will not be able to complete the project in the foreseeable future.

Roof taken off by the breeze!!

The 100.000 litres tank is completed. The only and major problem now, is that the roof of the schohol was taken off by the breeze! Thanks to god we have not installed the pipe system at that time. We have no idea when the school will be able to raise enough funds to rebuild the roof.

We will keep you informed about this issue.

Rain causes delay

The 100.000 litres tank was not roofed yet. We reached a status where the tank will not be damaged by the rain and can be finished after the rains. This was not planned but as the project was started middle of March the time was too small.

Tank enlarged

At the time we started work we were supposed to build a 100.000 litres tank. But with the problems faced at Ferry Banda Sirma occurred, we decided to enlarge it to a 150.000 tank without hesitation. The community was so cooperative and much more interested in the utilisation of RHT, even involving a neighboring community. Additionally the number of students increased since our first survey. Sorry for not reaching you with this information more early but be rest assured that the big communities of Magbontoso and Mile 38 will utilise the tank properly.

The tanks is not roofed yet and this will have to wait at least until
the rain reduces.