Open wells don’t make safe drinking water, but they can make a pretty picture! I’m lucky enough to live near a tap where I can easily fetch my water, but many people in The Gambia still find access to safe drinking water to be a challenge. Nearly 22 percent of households use unprotected wells like this one for drinking, according to UNICEF. Luckily, my neighbors in this compound and many other people in my village know open wells are unsafe and opt to wait in lines at a covered hand pump or tap instead.
I can now carry a full bucket of water on my head without spilling a drop. It is actually much easier than waddling the few hundred meters from the tap to my compound with the bucket awkwardly in-hand.
Every day, I pump from a nearby well to water a garden my training group planted down the road.
