Sawegbeh Community (Quarter #1)

Dear Sir/Madame, Everyone in our quarter wants to add their thanks to this letter of appreciation. So many of us struggle to survive and water is a big contributor to our worries. You have taken us under your wing and given us a new well. For years to come we will remember you for your kindness and generosity. Please accept our thanks and know you are in our prayers. Jerry Wiles Youth Careman

About 850 people in this segment Sewegbeh Community is located along the Brewerville city Po River Montserrado Highway, ten minutes drive from the old Voice of America (VOA) broadcast house. This community is one of the oldest establishment within the city of Brewerville and it's precisely situated within the Greater Monrovia, St. Paul River district. The name Sewegbeh is a local Liberian vernacular which derived from the Via tribe meaning ‘‘Under The Source Tree’’ according to locals of the community. Sewegbeh Quarter one (1) has always been a growing community: It is a community that once sheltered internally displaced people during the late 1990's Liberian civil war. During the heat of the war, many residents of Monrovia the nation capital sought refuge in Sewegbeh as the capital was the target of rebel forces. However, at the end of the War: most of the IDPs who has earlier sought refuge saw Sewegbeh inhabitable as they were accustom to every prevailing conditions of the land and thus decided to stay there and settled. Today, with a growing youthful population, basic livelihood of the inhabitants of Sewegbeh revolve around petty trade and farming which largely circle cassava production. The inhabits, mostly tribal Mandingo ethnic inhabitants from the Mandingo and Vai tribe that are predominantly muslins live here. Like everywhere Lifewater's initiative reaches, access to safe drinking water in Sewegbeh Community was a serious challenge until now with the coming of Lifewater hand pump project in their town brought relieve to them. Interestingly, existing gender roles in Sewegbeh Community shows the task of fetching water as the sole responsibility of women and girls. ‘‘We used to wake up very early in the morning to walk for over 30 minutes to fetch water’’ Martha a local resident says. She and others in her community would lose hours each day walking to fetch water for their house hold. Across Sewegbeh community women and children spend up to six hours a day collecting water. They then suffer the direct costs of doctors’ visits and medicine when they’re sick from drinking these contaminated waters, and countless indirect costs due to the time lost. ‘‘My grand children wasted a lot of time walking for water instead of concentrating on school work’’ a sixty (60) years old grandmother who is also a resident of the community said. Besides the use of unsafe water, the extremely poor sanitary conditions and very low level of hygiene education further exposed the community to a variety of waterborne diseases including diarrhea, dysentery, constant skins diseases etc. And they did not believe that this would change - ‘‘When Lifewater Workshop came to tell us about the new hand pump water project we didn’t believe it would happen – until we saw people actually constructing the hand pump’’ said Ma-Thenal an elderly woman of the town. Finally, with the timely effort of Lifewater Sewegbeh community Quarter one (1) now has all reasons to celebrate with their new hand pump. Not only is the water closer, but it is more safe for family to drink. Community members will no longer suffer from typhoid and diarrhea, and children can now spend more time concentrating on their studies instead of fetching water Like before. Praise be to God for our partners in this effort. This well was drilled as part of a cooperative NGO initiative to provide safe drinking water to all Liberian's. Thanks to ''The Last Well Inc.'' for their coordination and support!