Clean Water

Willamette International initially began its involvement with Sierra Leone by bringing short-term medical teams to villages around Sierra Leone. It did not take long to notice the large number of illnesses that were attributed to poor drinking water. In fact, almost half of the population of Sierra Leone does not have access to clean drinking water. They get their water from ponds, rivers and unprotected wells. The parasites and infections obtained from these water sources contribute to Sierra Leone’s incredibly high child mortality rate and low life-expectancy. 

Over the next several years, WI made an agreement with the Sierra Leonean government to rehabilitate a water dam that had been destroyed in the war. Today this protected and treated water source is pumped to eight different water distribution points throughout this large community.

In addition to the water dam project, WI is also involved in well-drilling. We use a manual bore-hole drilling method. The simplicity of the equipment involved in this method allows us to travel to the most remote and difficult-to-reach areas.
