Category Archives: Yennenga Water and Sanitation

Microclimate change for the better.

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The work in the Yennenga Water Team is continuing.  During the meeting held, end of January, the team drew a working plan to be able to give a concrete form to the plans to rehabilitate the dam in Nakamtenga.  Beside a source of drinking water for the animals, the dam will have several purposes. When the dam is deepened and formed to contain a suitable level of water around the year, it will be possible to do fish farming which can become an important source of income for the young people in the village. The position of the dam, close to the main road, will attract clients to the nearby restaurant. As there will be planting of trees and other suitable vegetation around the dam, a pleasant site will be created and the microclimate will change for the better.

The planning is done in close collaboration with our Yennenga Networkers in Nakamtenga. They are now providing information and facts, which are important for the designing and calculations of the dam rehabilitation. They have measured the dam and are now digging a three-meter deep hole to test the penetration of the water during dry season.

If everything works as planed, it is possible that the first phase of the dam construction can be achieved before the next rainy season that hopefully starts in July.

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A Yennenga water team is created

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A first meeting has been held with the idea to create a Yennenga Water Team with the mission to ameliorate the access to water for the population in Nakamtenga in Burkina Faso. A group of young engineers, a board member of INUG and a representative from Yennenga Progress have, after an introduction meeting and discussion, decided to create a working group to develop ideas about ways to secure water access during the vegetables gardening period for the population and also secure drinking water for animals in Nakamtenga. The area is very arid and the rains are scares and more and more unpredicted. Burkina has a history of rain harvesting so the group will start their work with a survey to gather information about what has already been done.

 “I feel very enthusiastic about this challenge”, said one of the young engineers. “This project gives us an opportunity to put our hands on something concrete that can make a change”

 

 

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Establish care for nature and environment early – it gives results!

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The children at the preschool in Nakamtenga, Burkina Faso, know where to put their garbage. They have all been training throughout their years at the school. We recycle buckets, which, in Sweden where used when selling cut flowers. One plastic bucket is used for that which is combustible. Our caretaker Adama takes care of what should be burned. He burns the waste at night when it has stopped blowing. One plastic bucket is used for compost. The school garden has a compost pit. The children take turns to go and empty the bucket with peel, after “fruit hour” when the children get fruit every day. The third bucket is used for glass and metal, which Adama takes care of. He sells scrap metal to those who make pots. The glass is the most difficult to handle. We use the caps from beer and soda bottles for math practice and games.

Ask a 4-year-old in Nakamtenga why we should not throw plastic bags in the wild. The children will then tell us that donkeys, pigs, sheep and goats chew on them and swallow them. Glass, metal and old ragged clothes could also end up in animals’ stomachs and make animals sick and even kill them. Even in the homes the parents get asked by their children to use the trash can or compost bin instead of throwing everything on the ground!

During all those years the children at the preschool have been picking garbage. Even outside the schoolyard. Sometimes adults have asked us what we are doing when the children go in a long line searching and removing what comes in their way, that should not be in the nature. Teachers have patiently encouraged and trained the children to continue to keep nature cleen on the way to school. The area closest to the school is always clean. It becomes a pleasant habit to keep clean and make sure their school and surroundings are clean.

Our first pre-school children are now teenagers. Some are in Nakamtengas youth group. Most of the youth in the youth group have not been able to attend preschools and schools, but they all gather regularly for various activities. They play soccer, they have plans for the village’s future, planting trees and picking trash and doing the whole Nakamtenga

 

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