Dry season water projects to bring good tidings to communities in West Africa

Water poverty alleviation charity, Hope Spring announced the clean water projects it will be working on in the final quarter of 2021 recently. The Hereford based charity is part of what is known as the WASH sector of international development NGOs.

The last quarter of the year in the UK, coincides with the dry season in West Africa, where Hope Spring does most of its clean water advocacy, and embarks on well and borehole construction projects. The dry season in Africa is one of the most challenging periods for water-stressed communities. Water table drops very low, and some water sources dry up completely. Communities without water have to trek about twice the usual distances to fetch water.

The flip side of the dry season in Africa, is that organisations such as Hope Spring water find constructing well and boreholes much easier. Roads and access to project locations are much easier during the dry season. According to Temi Odurinde, a Hope Spring trustee, “wells and boreholes constructed in the dry season tend to provide water to the community all year round, compared with wells and boreholes constructed in the rainy season”.

Temi added that “we recently found out that our project construction cost is lower in the dry season than other times of the year, and dry season is the time of the year that communities we work with tend to have the greatest need for clean water”.

Hope Spring will be working on at least two borehole construction projects and one well in the dry season. There are two other potential projects which are yet to be finalized.

At home in England, the dry season in West Africa spans autumn and winter, which happen to be a busy period for Hope Spring fundraising efforts. Apart from their annual Christmas fundraising, their charity ecard platform Hope Spring eCard is usually at its busiest during Christmas. Part of their fundraising campaign in Christmas 2021 is the new business charity Christmas ecard platform, This section of the ecard fundraising appeal is targeted at businesses that want to sponsor a clean water project or send a charity Christmas ecard, instead of a regular Christmas greetings.

Hope Spring hopes the business and other Christmas fundraising appeal will raise enough money so that the two potential projects can become a certainty.