Destination Guinée: Clean Drinking Water for Guinea?

In Guinea, as in most of Africa, there are two seasons; the rainy season and the dry season, each lasting around six months. During the rainy season, as you would expect, it rains a lot. At least once a day. During the month of August, it does nothing but rain. Laundry is out of the question, as is doing much of anything. During the dry season, it's dry. When I say dry, I mean no rain, no moisture, nothing. The wells and the streams dry up, and layers upon layers of dust build up on everything. Right now we are almost at the end of the dry season, and I'm really looking forward to the rains! It has rained twice since the end of rainy season in October. The first was a 30 minute shower back in December, the second was a five minute sprinkle that occurred two months ago. I was sound asleep when suddenly I heard rain falling on the roof. I jumped out of bed, ran outside, and stood in the rain. It was 2 am. Sadly, it was over all too soon so I climbed back into bed. Since then, it hasn't rained a DROP, although rainy season will officially start in about six weeks.

The six month gap of no rain has a huge impact on water security here. When the wells dry up, which they do around March or April, people are forced to used water sources that might not be as clean resulting in more sicknesses. The well that is next to my house is just about finished and it will remain dried up until the month of May. Fortunately, in the bigger villages like mine, we have pumps that bring up clean water from further down. In the smaller villages, they are often forced to drink contaminated water, which then then attempt to filter using a contraption using sand and the leg of a pair of jeans.

So, what can be done about this problem? Well, I recently went to a training held in a suburb of Conakry, where I learned how to make a Biosand Water Filter (designed by CAWST). These filters, in the field, last forever, and remove around 80 percent of the bacteria, viruses, and other nasty things you find in the water here. They are fairly easy to make. You pour concrete into the mold, and then you fill it with layers of gravel and sand. The only substantial cost is getting the mold made. I am hoping to work with fellow volunteers Kelly and Sarah to start making and distributing the filters to people in need. The group that we worked with have been doing this project for about a year, and have given approximately 60 water filters to neighbors in the surrounding area. After the training, we walked around to look at the filters, and amazingly, almost ever single one was being used! The people with filters had nothing but good things to say about them. Since they started using the filters, they've gotten sick less often. I was really encouraged after going to this training! The water filters are useful, durable, easy to use, and immediately begin improving the lives of those who are using them!

Step One : The mold is oiled, and put together. Plastic tubing where water comes out is placed in the mold

Step Two: Concrete is mixed - cement, sand, gravel, water, and lots of work!

Step Three: Concrete is poured into the mold. The mold is beaten with a hammer to get all the air bubbles out. In the US, this process is done by a machine which vibrates and gets all the air bubbles out .