Water for Dobang Kunda School

The fact that Dobong Kunda School exists is the direct result of a Peace Corps volunteer working with the community to advocate with the Ministry of Basic Education on behalf of the community’s children.

Since its founding as a 3-classroom school in 2013, the school has grown to an enrollment of 448 students in 6 grades. Of those, 263 are girls.

There are three wells at the school; all have failed:

A hand pump, which has cracked concrete and a failing cylinder, etc. Because the concrete apron has failed, groundwater seeps back in and makes the water unsafe to drink (but it is now being drunk because both electric pumps have failed).
A borehole with 2,000 litre tank and electric pump funded some years ago by a Gambian living abroad. Because of a limited budget, an inferior pump motor was used, and it has failed. This pump provided drinking water for the children, water for the school kitchen, and water for the school’s garden.
Next to the school, the Ministry of Agriculture also built a community garden, with its own water tower and pump. This was also built with an inferior pump, which has completely failed as well. It is not clear who “owns” this pump and it will likely be complicated to do any repair to this installation.

If additional funds are raised,
the broken handpump will be repaired as well. With no water, the school turned to American friends of the school for help. They in turn contacted Water Charity for advice. Water Charity sent a technical team to the school, and recommends a comprehensive solution, based on one high-quality, durable system:

Use the borehole, tower, and water tanks currently installed at the school.
Replace the broken pump with a Grundfos pump SQ-11 pump – the best on the market.
Run additional lines to new taps at the kitchen, and at the boys' and girls' toilets.
- Make sure the existing tap at the school garden is working well.
Run another new line from the school water system to the community garden next to the school.

The net result will be a water system for the school, its kitchen, toilets, and garden, as well as water for the community garden, which will then revive.

Total cost will be $3,785.
All unskilled labor needed (mostly trench digging) will be donated by the community. If additional funds are raised, the broken handpump will be repaired as well.