Water source improvement – Covenant Kids Congo, powered by World Vision

This morning Cindy and I visited the work World Vision has done to improve a water source in the IPOK/Gemena III neighborhood. Today was overcast and rain was coming, so I did my best to take some photos (below) before we had to rush to shelter.

Here is a picture of the sign. It reads: Water source or spring improvement. Work done in February—March 2014.

Sign for “Mai Ya Poto” Water Project

Spring in operation (see arrows)

In the photo above, the yellow arrows point to the hillside where the water was coming out. The red arrow points to the retaining wall that was built. None of the infrastructure you see here was present prior to February.

The women in the foreground of the picture with arrows (see above) are shaving manioc into a basin of water to make “malemba”. This is a cold, uncooked manioc dish. They allow the manioc to soak for 2 days before consumption.

Mai Ya Poto water running into a jug

The World Vision staff opened up the hillside and placed 2 plastic pipes where the water is coming out of the hill. Those are the 2 pipes you see going through the retaining wall from which people get water. After building the retaining wall, they then filled in the area above or uphill from it. They also installed a fence to keep people from walking into the area above the retaining wall.

They constructed the paved area to set water jugs and basins, as well as building the drainage channel. They built the sidewalk entrance/exit with stairs which are a BIG help.

Stairs to the Mai Ya Poto spring

View of the spring from above

The World Vision technician, Frank, who only arrived from Goma in March, explained to us that he plans to redo the catchment area so it will collect more water. He was not involved when this was first done.

Finally, one very important feature is the warning sign posted at the spring. It says:

In order to protect our water:

• Do not where your shoes in the area where you collect water
• Do not wash clothes or your body where you collect water
• Do not let animals enter the area
• Wash your basins with soap before bringing them here to use
• Keep the area clean where you collect water
• Do not go to the bathroom in the water or in the area around the spring

Mai Ya Poto sign with warnings for how to care for the spring