Mamadou Badjefa Women’s Garden Well Project – Senegal
Mamadou Badjefa, Kolda, Senegal
Mamadou Badjefa is a village in Kolda with a population of about 150 people, located less than 2 kilometers north of the main road, across a seasonal river.
Mamadou Badjefa’s women’s group has a community garden that was initially funded through a grant paired with a 30% community contribution in the beginning of 2012. The garden is 50 x 50 meters with 20 women actively gardening. The women primarily grow okra, hibiscus, and hot peppers, though a few also have tomatoes, lettuce, onions, and cabbage.
Now over a year into the project the well is dry, despite twice digging it deeper, and there is no money to pay for labor. Women must walk almost 1 kilometer to a seasonal river several times daily in order to carry water to their plants.
Currently the well is 3 meters deep but should be 10 meters deep to provide proper service.
There is an existing basin for water storage, but it has become unusable. It is structurally unsound and does not serve the purpose of appropriately dispersing the water throughout the garden.
This project is to improve the well and build a basin to provide adequate water supply and storage for the women’s garden.
The well will be uncovered, as it will be used for watering the community garden far away from the village center, and will not be used as a primary source for drinking water.
The top of the well is reinforced by cement rings, but the mason has determined that more rings are not necessary to maintain the strength/integrity of the well.
Water will be drawn by hand with buckets. The addition of a working basin system will make the water more accessible for the whole garden.
The plants grown in this garden are sold in surrounding villages and at local markets. These plants are also consumed by each member’s household, affecting more than 150 people. The garden crops greatly improve the diets of the villagers, and are crucial towards providing essential nutrients and vitamins.
Water Charity funds will be used for:
– paid skilled labor for the digging of the well
– 8 sacks of cement needed for the basin
– paid labor for transporting cartloads of rock and sand
– at least 25 meters of piping/ tubing to connect the basin to the well
– paid skilled labor for the mason for the building of the basin, as well as paid labor for his assistant
– transportation fees of the materials from the regional capital (34 kilometers)
Community members will help with the unloading and loading of buckets of dirt and water for the well digging process.
The group is looking to use pooled money to buy watering cans and a variety of seeds next year in order to increase crop diversity, increase sources of nutrition, and diversify marketable crops.
Peace Corps Volunteers will continue working with the women to teach improved gardening techniques, such as soil amendments, composting, double-digging, vegetable nurseries, and live fencing.
150 people will benefit from the project.
Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
This project will provide tremendous benefit to the women who work in the community garden, their families, and the community at large. It will provide improved nutrition, and offer an economic benefit through the sale of vegetables.
Dollar Amount of Project
Donations Collected to Date
ADOPT THIS PROJECT BY CONTRIBUTING THE DOLLAR AMOUNT NEEDED BELOW
Donations of any amount will be appreciated. The full amount will give you “naming rights”, if that is something you would like.
Any contributions in excess of the Dollar Amount of Project will be allocated to other projects directed by this PCV and/or projects of other PCVs in this country.
Dollar Amount Needed
This project has been finished. To read about the conclusion of the project, CLICK HERE.