The island of Carache, which is part of the archipelago of Bijagos in Guinea-Bissau includes five big villages, including Ampitcham, kutcham, binti, amonde and porto. On November 18, 2012 approximately around 12 pm, 12 team members visited the Island of Carache using a canoe as means of transportation. It took them 8 hours to reach the island. 

Upon arrival, the team noticed a community in an indescribable isolation, with no basic structure. The island of Carache is a poor and deprived community. It lacks basic social amenities such as transportation, health centers, electricity, a basic school, and above all potable water. 

None of the 5 villages had access to clean drinking water. Populations drink rainwater or water collected from the river  or sometimes from a well found occasionally. Women and children are forced to travel long distances often more than 2 to 4 miles with baskets on their head to get water from streams or rivers (see pictures of women walking to get water).  In order to provide safe drinking water to this population we dug one water well in one village.

GAD has a plan to dig the other 4 wells.  GAD believes that giving access to water is a priority in any development program. Not only it reduces the risk of diseases related to unsafe drinking water, but also ensures the development of children.

Walking Miles Away

Without a well in their community, children are forced to walk miles away to collect water. In these 5 villages, girls and young women are primarily responsible for collecting water for their families. Therefore, these young women and girls, are deprived of education. With access to water, girls and young women can complete their education.

Contaminated Rainwater

The community collects untreated rain water dripping from their roof. Dirt and germs can be washed into collected rainwater from the roof (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013). Indeed, contaminated water and poor sanitation are linked to transmission of diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea, dysentery, hepatitis A, typhoid, and polio (World Health Organization, 2019).

Access to Water

GAD helped one village to have a water well. The first water well was manually dug to provide safe drinking water to this population.  The well was dug to a depth of 79 feet (24 meters) and the project lasted for 3 weeks. The community now enjoys fetching water in their own village. Children do not have to walk miles away anymore to collect water. We hope to be able to provide access to water to all 5 villages.