From 1995 to 2004, Liberia was racked by bloody civil war. During this time, wells drilled by Lifewater Canada were gifts, fully funded by donors. Villages did not have to contribute to the new project.
In 2004, the war was over and a team of volunteers was helping drill a well along the Robertsfield Highway. Nothing went right, and it was a long, frustrating process.
To end the week on a positive note, the team decided to visit a village where a well had been drilled two years earlier. They envisioned being greeted by happy parents, playing children, and safe water flowing from the well.
When the team arrived, the pump was draped with drying laundry and the pump pad was parch dry. The chief greeted the team with a scowl instead of a smile, and angrily asked: “Where have you been? Your pump has been spoiled for many months now and our children are getting sick from drinking the swamp water again!”
Sure enough, the team watched women coming back with coloured water from the stagnant swamp. But they also saw dried fish for sale at roadside stalls and new soccer nets on the community play field. Clearly, there was a disconnect between spending priorities and health impact.
Further discussion revealed that the villagers believed the pump belonged to Lifewater and not to them. They had no sense of ownership and felt like it was not their property. This was a watershed moment for Lifewater as the team members realized that if they covered the cost of fixing the pump, it would be used until it broke and then sit unused until they came again. This was emergency relief rather than sustainable development.
We told the chief our team would come back in four months — by which time the village could save $20 to pay for the repair. The Lifewater workers would then fix the pump. The town people had a private impromptu meeting, and all the Lifewater volunteers could hear was loud male voices replaced after a period of time by loud female voices.
When the chief came back, he said the Lifewater plan to come back in four months was “no good”. Instead, the town would have the money saved in only one month, so they wanted the repair team to come back then!
When we returned and repaired the pump, the chief asked if his town could pay $20 in advance so when the pump broke again, the team could bring parts and fix it right away! This led to the start of a “pump insurance” program in Liberia that enables communities to sign paperwork and pay a flat yearly fee so Lifewater workers will repair a pump whenever it breaks.
