Water and Food for 2,000 People in Rural Senegal

Friends,

All of us at CREATE! would like to thank you for your generosity that has helped us continue partnering with rural communities in Senegal, helping them sustain and improve their lives and livelihoods. In this report, I want to highlight one of the key elements of our program, our solar pumps, without which our program can come to a standstill. The community of Ndiagne Kahone recently experienced a situation where the importance of these pumps became evident to them. This is their story.

Ndiagne Kahone partnered with CREATE! in 2020, right when the pandemic was starting. The women from the community who participated in the program learned all the sustainable activities while being mindful of the health and safety requirements. So they are no strangers to difficult situations. The training they receive from the CREATE! technicians and their own ability to persevere in the face of adversity allows them to keep continuing.

Late last year, they faced another such difficulty that nearly brought their program to a standstill. Their solar pump, that usually pumped out more than 25000 liters of water every day and allowed then to plant and harvest more than 200 pounds of nutritious vegetables every month, slowed down significantly. By end of January, the pump was just pumping out 3000 liters every day. To understand what the issue is, the CREATE! team first checked the solar panels and the connecting pipes. When those appeared to be problem free, the team took out the solar pump to clean and diagnose any problems at the level of the turbine. They did find clogging issues at the return valve that was leading to low pumping rates. CREATE! co-Executive Director in Senegal, Omar Seck, then called the pump supplier for maintenance. While the supplier taught our team and the community members on how to purge the pump of impurities, the pump at Ndiagne Kahone unfortunately needed to be replaced.

The importance of access to perennial water for agricultural production became very evident to the women from Ndiagne Kahone during these months. With pest infestations lower during the cooler months and water table in the well high from December to February, the community had envisioned producing and harvesting a lot of vegetables during these months and had planned accordingly with their nurseries and beds. But unfortunately, without water, they saw their cucumber, pepper and African eggplants dry up in front of their eyes. In fact, theylost forty-five square meters of pepper nurseries due to the stoppage of the pump. The choice of these crops had been motivated by the needs of the beneficiaries in the face of market demand. But the women from Ndiagne Kahone did not give up. They strived hard, using organic composts to retain soil moisture and even bringing in water from the village to the garden by hand to maintain some of these nurseries. They also continued all the other maintenance activities, including weeding and hoeing the soil by hand. Their efforts resulted in them able to harvest 250 pounds of vegetables on an average every month during this period. Harvest numbers were higher more due to the ample production of the papaya fruit since those trees already had well established roots and could survive water shortages.

In March, a new pump was installed thanks to support from all of you, and production went up again with the new pump restoring water access back to 25000-30000 liters every day. To make up for lost time, the community used most of this water for agriculture and produced ample amounts of okra, lettuce and eggplants. This story of perseverance is what we at CREATE! envision for all our partner communities. With our 20th partnership this year, we look forward to your continued support that makes our program possible. Thank You!

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