By: Hafsatu Z. Bangura
Caritas Freetown Sierra Leone with support from Caritas Germany has Thursday 7th July, 2022 commissioned 4 VIP Latrines and 2 Water Well at Culvert Community East End of Freetown.
The One Family Preparatory & International Secondary School benefited from One VIP Toilet and One Water Well, Kel’s Primary School benefited from One VIP Toilet, Elementary Primary School benefited from One VIP Toilet and One Water Well and Zone 4 which is a zone at Culvert Community also benefited from one VIP Toilet.
Handing over the gesture, the Executive Director Caritas Freetown, Rev. Fr. Peter Konteh, said that Caritas has been working tremendously in order to elevate the suffering of Sierra Leoneans which he continued that they have been able to achieve such through their interventions and activities across the country.
He maintained that as an organization they have been very supportive to the people of Culvert Community, adding that Culvert Community is one of the most deprived slum communities in Freetown and that during the raining season the community is always faced by flooding but said that through the invention of Caritas of which they have trained residents on how to interpret the sign and the rain which was help to mitigate the flooding in the community.
Rev. Fr. Peter Konteh pointed out that the organization has also assigned permanent staff in the community in order to support the community in diverse ways.
He express appreciation to Caritas Germany for supporting the construction of the VIP Toilets and Water Well at the Culvert Community which he said as an organization they are very proud to officially commission these VIP Toilets and Water Well to the community as part of their support towards the development of the community.
The Executive Director called on the community to take ownership of the VIP Toilets and Water Well in order to ensure their sustainability.
He used the opportunity to inform the gathering that on the 13th of May 2022, after the horrendous fire incident happened within the Culvert Community, Caritas Freetown in collaboration with Tzu Chi under the Partnering to Serve Humanity provided emergency relief support to the victims slated to last for a period of 12days.
The Proprietor of the One Family Preparatory & International Secondary School, Chief Joseph Mathew Williams commended Caritas Freetown Sierra Leone for the commissioning of the VIP Toilets and Water Well at the Culvert Community. The described the gesture was not only important but very timely intervention towards addressing hygiene and sanitation issues within the community.
He assured Caritas that they will ensure the maintenance and sustainability of the VIP Toilets and Water Well.
Stakeholder at Zone 4 Culvert Community, Mammy Dora also on behalf of the community expresses gratitude to Caritas Freetown Sierra Leone and Caritas Germany for the construction of the VIP Toilet for the community. She revealed that before the commissioning of the VIP Toilet the community has been challenged with toilet facility but said the commissioning of the VIP Toilet Caritas has put smiles on the faces on these community residences.
“Residents in the past used to use the drainage to defecate but with the construction that will become a thing of the past now in the community because community residence will no longer use these drainages but the newly constructed VIP Toilet” he disclosed.
Speaking on behalf of the pupils, Ishmael Turay a class 6 pupils of One Family Preparatory & International Secondary School express gratitude to Caritas for the VIP Toilets and Water Wells.
“We as pupils finds it very difficult to access hygiene toilet and clean drinking water within the Culvert Community, we sometimes use the drainages to defecate but with this new VIP Toilet we will no longer use the drainages and we now also have access to clean drinking water” he maintained.
Climaxing the ceremony was the symbolic commissioning of the VIP Toilets and Water Well by the Executive Director Caritas Freetown, Rev. Fr. Peter Konteh, Chief Joseph Mathew Williams and others.
