By Paulomi Bhattacharyya | CREATE! Development Associate & Project Leader
The community of Mbossedji, located in the Kaolack region of Senegal became a CREATE! partner community in May 2019, thanks to your generous support. After the Memorandum of Understanding was signed between CREATE! and the group, our team of technicians started to plan and implement CREATE!s program activities in Mbossedji, starting with the rehabilitation of an existing deep well of proven capacity.
Like many rural communities in Senegal, before partnering with CREATE!, Mbossedji only would cultivate a garden during the short (3-4 month) rainy season. Their commercial water system was too costly to support agriculture needs during the dry season. However, Mbossedji’s abandoned well proved to hold untapped potential. CREATE! partnered with well diggers, and fabricators to clean out and revitalize that well to bring back clean, abundant, and affordable water to the community. Since the well was 40 meter deep, it was impossible for the community members to draw out water by hand and use it for irrigation purposes. So, after the rehabilitation work was done, CREATE! technicians installed a solar powered water pump and panels to draw water out from well into a 5000 liter reservoir. This water then would flow through a gravity fed and drip irrigation system into a 2-hectare garden site that the community members had cleared for their cooperative gardens. With such a large garden site, the community of Mbossedji installed 2 water reservoirs instead of the usual one. They also piloted a drip irrigation system to decrease the manual labor of the beneficiaries and to efficiently irrigate their garden sites.
With water, Mbossedji now has the means to turn the desert into a lush oasis. Community members have started their agricultural training with CREATE!’s technicians and are putting their new knowledge to work. Since the beginning of November, 138 members are learning practical watering methods, how to use cover crops, how to create organic fertilizer and compost, and many more sustainable agriculture methods. As a result, Mbossedji has already started sustainably planting six varieties of nutritious vegetables right in their village. These include vegetables like okra, turnips, tomatoes, lettuce, peppers and mint; all of which are used in traditional Senegalese cuisine.
Water is the source of life and the foundation for economic success in rural Senegalese villages. Water means lush gardens that produce vegetables. Vegetables lead to food security and a reliable source of income for families. Thank you for helping Mbossedji take the first steps towards building community self-sufficiency and learning to harness their own abilities. We are excited to see what the future holds for them. Your resources will make that future possible!
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