Clean Water Restores Hope
For generations, the people of Dubaya and Kambaya in northern Sierra Leone lived with a reality few outsiders ever saw. Water — something many of us take for granted — was a daily struggle, a danger, and sometimes a source of heartbreaking loss.
For nearly five years, World Hope International, with generous support from Charity Water, has worked across Sanya Chiefdom in Bombali and Karene Districts to bring lasting access to safe drinking water. As the initiative neared completion, a Post-Implementation Monitoring Survey assessed 600 households and 100 water points, ensuring the systems were safe, functional and community-managed .
But beyond the data, the team encountered something even more powerful: stories of transformation.
Dubaya: From Survival to Relief
Reaching Dubaya required nearly five hours along narrow, overgrown paths and fragile log bridges. For decades, this isolated village had no reliable water source. During the dry season, families trekked two hours into the mountains to collect water at the base of a waterfall shared with wild animals.
Residents drank from the same source as gorillas and monkeys. Illnesses such as diarrhea, dysentery and cholera were common. Women and girls were never allowed to go alone. Some even went into labor along the dangerous journey.
When the borehole was drilled on March 14, 2024, everything changed .
Kambaya: When Hope Replaced Fear
In neighboring Kambaya, water scarcity had shaped generations. After repeated failed attempts to dig wells, desperation led the community to tragic decisions rooted in fear and superstition. Scarcity created doubt. Doubt created despair.
When World Hope and Charity Water arrived, hope returned cautiously. This time, the promise was grounded in engineering, science and partnership with the community.
Now, Kambaya has reliable access to safe drinking water . The borehole stands as more than infrastructure — it represents freedom from fear. Children grow up knowing water is available. Families can focus on farming, school and building a future rather than searching for survival.
More Than Water
This initiative evaluated not only water quality — confirming the absence of fecal contamination — but also strengthened 100 community water management committees to ensure long-term sustainability .
Clean water does more than quench thirst. It reduces disease. It protects women and girls from dangerous journeys. It replaces superstition with knowledge. It restores trust in what is possible.
Dubaya and Kambaya did not simply receive new wells. They reclaimed their future.
Through partnership, perseverance and faith in what can be built together, communities once defined by scarcity now stand in dignity — proof that access to safe water is not just infrastructure. It is hope made visible.
Elijah Maina
WASH Director
World Hope International – West Africa