Our Andando team, including founders Kevin and Fiona, visited Lohenne for the first time this past January to meet with community members and discuss how we might work together.
We are thrilled to welcome Lohenne, a small village of 630 residents in Senegal’s central Kaolack region, as Andando’s newest partner community.
The community came to us late last year seeking help to establish a garden that would create new opportunities for women to earn income and address malnutrition.
Whenever we visit a community, we take time to understand the full context of its situation, not only its challenges, but also its strengths. Through these conversations, we learned that although Lohenne is connected to the municipal water system, residents still lack easy access to potable drinking water. Mariame Diop explains:
“Lohenne is a village where quality water is scarce, or to get it you need to go to the village well which is not only far, but you must spend a long time filling your container which requires a lot of effort. The village is connected to the municipal water tower… but the water is not drinkable because it’s salty. It’s intended just to serve animals and for cooking, it is not even usable for laundry.”
While the municipal water is salty, the village’s local well appeared to contain abundant clean water. However, its distance from homes placed a difficult burden on the women and girls responsible for collecting water.
Our partners at FlexNRJ quickly deployed their team to test the well. Even after several hours of continuous pumping, the well maintained a strong, stable flow.
We initially examined the well as a potential water source for the requested garden. But if the village was also struggling to access drinking water, could we solve both problems at once?
To answer that question, we tested the well’s capacity and discovered that it was one of the most productive wells we have ever tested. This presented a tremendous opportunity.
Together with the village, we decided to install an upgraded solar pump and reservoir system with more than twice the capacity of a typical garden system. This would allow us not only to support the future garden, but also to provide clean drinking water for the entire village.
Local masons lay the foundation for Lohenne’s elevated water reservoir and solar panels.
This high yield system will provide village-wide access to clean drinking water.
Today, the system is fully operational and already making daily life much easier for the people of Lohenne. Fatou Kiné Ndieng describes the difference:
“Today with the installation of public taps by Andando the distance is reduced, the water from the well which is drinkable has become closer to us. In addition to the public tap, we connected a water supply in our house to the pipe installed by Andando. The water has become even closer to us, now we don't need to go out at home to get drinking water. I don't need to wake up very early to get water, I sleep as I want and when I wake up I take my container and I quietly turn on my tap to draw. Andando blessed us.”
Women gathered to celebrate the opening of Lohenne’s new public tap, which now provides clean drinking water while families work to connect their homes to the system.
Every human being deserves access to clean drinking water, and we are proud to take this first step in our partnership with the people of Lohenne. The women’s garden now underway will build on that foundation, giving women greater freedom to provide for their families on their own terms. The garden is scheduled to open this fall, and we look forward to sharing Lohenne’s continued journey toward a more prosperous future.
