Clean water for 11 970 students in Burkina Faso

My name is Adama OUEDRAOGO, President of the Village Development Committee (CVD) of the village of Ragounda, Commune of Yako, North Region, Burkina Faso

Before the drilling by Global NEEED Burkina, we here drank water from wells. Sometimes the water in the wells dried up, it took 3 or 4 hours for the water to come back again. There are times when children stumble and fall into wells in their search for water. The children very often had stomach aches, diarrhea and when they were brought to the dispensary in Yako, the nurses said that these diseases are due to drinking well water, dirty water. Sick, the children could no longer attend school regularly. They were often absent from classes. One fact is that care and medicine are expensive and contribute to impoverish families

Since Global NEEED carried out the drilling, there have been positive changes in the village. Diseases have decreased, our women suffer much less than before because they no longer travel long distances to find water, to drink and to cook meals. Our children are healthier and more regular in school. They no longer come home to drink water. They now have safe drinking water at their fingertips at school.

Global NEEED trained us and helped us set up a Water Point Management Committee (CGPE). In this committee, there is a repairman who takes care of the maintenance of the borehole by lubricating the essential parts of the borehole every two weeks. We also contribute 50 CFA francs per month and per household. This money is kept and used for the needs of repairing the borehole in the event of a breakdown.

We say a lot of thanks to Global NEEED and its partners. A problem still remains, however, because a single borehole is not enough to meet the water needs of a growing population. To make matters worse, residents of neighboring villages also come to ask for water from us. How to do ? The solution lies in the drilling of one or two boreholes in each of the other villages in order to best meet the enormous water needs of the populations. This will further ensure the good health of children while maintaining their attendance at school and significantly reduce the distances women walk each day to fetch water.