liberia’s Foya District is benefiting from a US$6,000 hand pump initiative orchestrated by the Village People Empowerment Group (ViPeE). According to ViPeE executive director Rudolf Janke, the initiative aims at providing safe drinking water for the people.
This makes it very important especially in most villages in Liberia which lack access to safe drinking water.
As such, the ViPeE has been supporting the construction of wells with hand pumps in Foya District from 2008 to 2017. However, this is just one of the many villages that lack safe drinking water. Mr. Janke also added that in May this year 2018, three hand pumps were constructed in collaboration with Liberia Freunde of Germany and the German Embassy in Monrovia.
According to Mr. janke the work was carried out by the villagers under the supervision of a rural water technician.
Also Read: Kenya benefits on water pumps from European company
To ensure the smooth running of the initiative, there will be a nomination for a water manager who will collect monthly water fees from the beneficiaries. These funds will help in carrying out repairs of the pumps. He also said that the collected fees will reinforce the maintenance costs instead of relying for external support.
He further disclosed that contribution came from members and associates of the VIPeE in Germany, United States and Liberia. Materials such as sand, gravel, and provided manpower to help along the efforts of the water technician were acquired in those villages.
Mr. Janke also lauded the efforts of the villagers in the construction as well as maintenance of the pump without the apparent help from the government. He explained that the independence or self-dependence exhibited served to give everybody a good feeling.
This, according to him, will also go a long way in assisting the government provide necessary infrastructure needed for education, health, communication, and mobility.
