Compassion International Child Development Center, TG205 Lome, Togo (Africa)

$27,301: Funded December 24, 2014. Completed Fall 2015

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Community Profile: The Rehoboth Child Development Center is located in Agoè Fiovi, a suburb of the coastal city of Lomé. The climate is hot and humid, and the low, coastal plain has many marshes and lagoons. Common but preventable illnesses include malaria, typhoid, cholera, and diarrhea. More than half the working population is unemployed, and the average monthly family income is U.S. $33. The Rehoboth Child Development Center meets critical needs in the community and serves as a tangible example of God’s love and provision for children and families.

Tangible Outcomes & Benefits for the Community: By partnering with Compassion in Togo, you would be providing 238 registered children at the Rehoboth Child Development Center as well as their caregivers’ access to safe water, hand-washing facilities, and a water storage system. Your gift would also provide ongoing training on proper hygiene. This water, sanitation and hygiene intervention would significantly reduce life-threatening incidents of cholera and waterborne diseases common in the suburbs of Lomé, and remove a significant barrier for children to overcome poverty.

Your gift is allowing the Compassion center to accomplish the following:

  • Drill a 50 to 70-meter deep borehole and construct a well on church property.
  • Install a solar pumping system with solar panels and batteries to move the water into a water tank and ensure distribution to various water points and facilities.
  • Construct a 7-meter tall concrete stand on which a water tank will be placed.
  • Install hand-washing facilities.
  • Conduct water analysis and test the installations.
  • Train staff on operating and maintaining the borehole and water tank.
  • Conduct hygiene training for the center’s children and families. Provide printed materials to center workers so they can offer ongoing training to children, families and community members.

PROGRESS TO DATE

Upon receiving the funds, our church partner selected the best contractor from four bids for the borehole construction project. This contractor then procured and installed the necessary drilling equipment at the project site, excavating the hole and preparing the vat and trap for the drilling process. Two days after drilling began, water was discovered 57 meters below ground — just as expected. After sending the water to be analyzed by the National Institute of Hygiene, the tests revealed that it was ideal for human consumption. This was an answer to prayer.

Now that a reliable source of clean water is available, construction has begun on a stand and tank for water storage, water delivery points, and hand-washing stations for the sponsored children at Baptiste Rehoboth, as well as their families and others in the community. While awaiting completion of these projects, our church partner has begun educating children and caregivers on good hygiene practices.

OVERFLOWING WITH ANTICIPATION

Once completed, the borehole construction will change the lives of residents living in this community. Finding safe water will no longer be as time-consuming. Personal hygiene will improve and cases of waterborne diseases will decrease. Children will be healthier and miss less school.

The cooking staff will be relieved from the hours spent fetching clean water for food preparation. As a result, they’ll have more time to cook nutritious meals for sponsored children. Local residents have been watching the highly visible construction project and looking forward to the day when it will be complete. With the 10-month construction process nearing its end, our church partner expects to have the water storage tank, plumbing, distribution points, and hand-washing stations ready to use by January 2016. By the time construction its finished, the staff, children, and caregivers will be trained and fully prepared to make the most of it.

Knowing the clean water is almost available has already helped the children of Baptiste Rehoboth improve their health as they learn more about proper hygiene and sanitation practices. Once the child development center turns on its water tap, the children will be better prepared to rise above poverty as they develop physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.

Thank you, Friends, for showing God’s love through your generous gift of clean water. It will improve local health, save caregivers’ time and money, and allow our church partner to serve the community of Agoe-Nyive Fiovi in significant ways. We are excited to see how the availability of clean water will change lives.   “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Footnotes
1 “Water Sanitation Health: Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene Development,” www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/hygiene/en
2 www.unicef.org/media/media_21423.html
3 www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/hygiene/e
1 Evaluation of the costs and benefits of water and sanitation improvements at the global level, World Health Organization, 2004
2 The State of the World’s Children 2012, UNICEF
3 Making Water a Part of Economic Development, Stockholm International Water Institute, 2005
4 The State of the World’s Children, UNICEF, 2012

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