When Water Came to Sambel Dakka
A Government of Japan-funded partnership with UNICEF and the Government of The Gambia is transforming health, hygiene, and childhood in rural Sambel Dakka.
In Sambel Dakka, a rural village in The Gambia's Central River Region, fetching water used to be a daily ordeal, and the burden fell heaviest on the young.
Before a new water system arrived, children would pedal bicycles for miles to neighbouring villages like Touba or Sambel Kunda, balancing heavy 20-litre bottles just so their families could drink and cook.
"We were really facing difficulties," recalls resident Salimatou Jarra. "The only water source was at Sambel Kunda or Touba, and this was at a time when there were no motorcycles to help us. When the household supply ran out, daily life simply stalled. We would not cook if there was no water. Everything had to wait."
Those long, exhausting rides are now a thing of the past. Through a partnership between the Government of The Gambia, UNICEF, and the Government of Japan, a solar-powered water system now serves the village directly.
For 16-year-old Fatoumatta, the difference is measured in time and energy.
"As children, we used to get very exhausted going all the way to Touba or Sambel Kunda to get water. Today, we can focus on studying and playing when we close from school."
With water stations now accessible within the community, she and her peers are no longer spending their days hauling jerrycans. They have time for school. They have their childhoods back.
The project did not stop at drinking water. Previously, the absence of toilets left residents with no choice but to use the bush, driving up waterborne illness and stripping people of basic privacy. The initiative funded the construction of ventilated pit latrines equipped with water and soap, and the impact was immediate.
Noah Sow, the village Alkalo, noticed the change straight away. "The whole community is clean now because we no longer go out and defecate," he says. "Children are no longer getting sick, and this is all thanks to the partners who made this possible."
For Salimatou, the new facilities offer something equally important. "Anybody who uses it can clean themselves and come out with privacy," she says.
Clean water closer to home. Proper sanitation. For the people of Sambel Dakka, that has meant better health, restored dignity, and children who finally have the freedom to just be children.
