Part 1 - Kayima Gravity Fed Water Supply Dam Excavation and Repair February 2014

Looking down on the town of Kayima, place of my father's birth, my grandfather's and generations before. 

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PART 1

In the 1950's a gravity fed water supply system was constructed at Kayima. The town has extended since then, the supply can't always reach the new neighbourhoods, but there are standpipes at many points where people collect water in buckets. 

In 2003 I visited the dam and took a series of pictures, just after the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and the townspeople had carried out maintenance and repairs.  They had managed to repair the walls of the dam, line the floor of the reservoir closest to the dam with cement and excavate a small portion of earth up to a point just before the big rock on the right. Even at that time there was more work to be done, such as excavation of the remaining soil, repairs to the stop cock, which had seized open, perhaps pruning of overhanging branches that had formed an almost complete canopy dropping leaves into the water. About 75% of the original  reservoir was completely filled in by earth and organic material that had been washed in over several decades. To the best of my knowledge no maintenance work has been done since then. 

From my visits to Sierra Leone just after the civil war, I was well trained in water etiquette - only drink and wash your teeth or any eating implements with tootick (the nick name then for bottled water - mostly imported). So I would only use the local water for bathing and even then I would always add a few ml of dettol. A couple of days after my arrival in Kayima I went as usual to collect bathing water, from the barrel in the house which had been filled by buckets collected from the nearest standpipe, about 100 metres away. Opening the lid I first saw then smelt what was in there passing itself off as water. It was brown and translucent but, most disturbing, had a foul sour smell I wasn't familiar with. I asked where it had come from, had anything been spilled in the drum? Had the drum been clean before use? What did the townspeople use this water for? Washing? Yes, cooking? yes. Surely not drinking? Oh yes, we are used to it. Do you boil your water? No no, said with amusement. The habit of drinking filtered UV treated packet water, the local more affordable replacement for tootick that now was the norm in Freetown and Koidu amongst those who valued their health, or amongst those who had let go of the strongly-held belief that they were immune to bad water, had not reached Sandoh. 

Some times of day were worse than others apparently, at certain times of day especially mid dry season the water would stop altogether, and even the townspeople would assert that the first water in the morning was often not fit for any type of use, as it contained borroh-borroh (mud), bits of leaves and all sorts. I was told that if you were the first in the town to collect water in the morning you had to let the tap run for some time to allow it to reach the quality I had just seen in my barrel. No one could tell me definitively why it smelled. Some theorised it could be animals washing in the water, others disagreed. Few ever went up there to the reservoir. The idea of people of all ages drinking this foul liquid was worrying.

2nd February 2014. I decided to investigate the same day and on the way another expatriate Sierra Leonean, Bondu Argue who was visiting her home town Kayima from the US, joined a few of us to trek up to the reservoir. We collected one of the men who had the most interest in the dam and who had been involved with partially clearing the road, starting behind the new Fasuluku Memorial Secondary School, named after my grandfather the late paramount chief. The road behind the school had once been motorable for the first two thirds of the way, up to a place they called the Turntable, just before a gulley. So we walked out of town past the police checkpoint and the primary school and into the secondary school grounds.

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The police checkpoint

the road out of town

Kayima Primary School on the right, secondary school in the distance

There were two fallen tree trunks blocking the road to the dam, they'd been there for some time and were partially rotten. They seemed to have been placed there some time ago. Probably during the school's construction, the access road had been banked up at the main road.   

I could see the road had been brushed (cleared using cutlasses) within the past year or so, but it was still narrow. Hundreds of infant trees had been growing for years in the middle of the road along its entire length, some 10cm or more in diameter. A large amount of shrubs and infant trees had been cut by cutlass to clear the way, but the diagonal cuts meant the road was filled with countless sharp stumps pointing straight up, ready to impale a vehicle's tyres. The road seemed like it was about half to 3/4 of a mile long, narrow as a path in some places due to rapid new growth, which is the norm in the balmy rainy season. It was easy to walk and fairly level, rising steadily at a shallow incline of about 6 degrees (or 1 in 10), but would need a bit of clearing to drive. In places, people using the road as a footpath, together with water erosion, had eroded the road into a v shaped valley over a period of years if not decades, still it would be much less daunting than driving over a mechanic's pit once cleared. 

After about 15 minutes walking we reached the 'Turntable',  a wider clearing where vehicles had once stopped, dumped their building materials and turned back. In the 50's, sand, cement, stone and large 6 inch diameter iron pipes had all been lugged bit by bit on peoples heads or shoulders, down into the gulley, up the other side, and up the very steep hill (about 25 degrees incline or 1 in 2) for about 300 metres or so to the reservoir. Each length of iron pipe was 4 or 5 metres long (most likely UK colonial standard sizes) and must have weighed a fair bit. I noticed one or two lying about in the bushes but couldn't see if they were cracked or eroded. We proceeded down into the gulley, below the pipe, now visible and supported on concrete brick pillars, and then back up alongside it on an almost straight path up the hill. 

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Supply pipe at the gulley

On the nearside of the gulley the pipe has a fair sized leak believed to be about 3cm or so in diameter, which had been plugged with wood and wrapped in place by several strips of inner tube, under tension to resist the considerable water pressure.

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supply pipe damaged - wrapped with inner tube rubber

supply pipe damaged - wrapped with inner tube rubber

 Arriving at the dam was a bit of a shock. The reservoir, estimated to have originally been at least 40 meters long by about 20 metres wide, was almost full of organic detritus as was the discoloured water in the small amount of the remaining space, approximately 5-7 metres by about 15 metres wide closest to the wall of the dam. Water in the reservoir had surface scum in places. There appeared to be evidence of eutrophication and elevated levels of total chlorophyll, indicated by the presence of brownish algal biomass.  Assessing total suspended matter visually, it was not possible to see the bottom of the reservoir pool even though it was only between 1 metre and 1.5 metres at its deepest, it was possible to see the bed where it was around 30 cm deep or less. The water had a reddish yellow tint indicating coloured dissolved matter.

location estimated 8.880875, -11.171713 

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Stopcock seized open - needs replacing

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The water was at a low level, well below the overflow line. At this point we thought this was  because it was the dry season. But we were pointed to a severe leak in the dam wall on its extreme left (if facing upstream), water was streaming out through rocks and deteriorated cement (see below). It seemed much cleaner than the water inside the reservoir, suggesting it was not a direct leak, but had filtered through gravel and sand through holes in the reservoir floor.

 

Leak extreme left  of dam coming through rocks 

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Drainage sump is plugged with wood wrapped in plastic bag and anchored by a rock against water pressure

The early morning borroh-borroh (or mud) coming out of the pipes in town suggested either disturbance of the water by animals or that the reservoir was being almost completely drained by the end of each day (or both), with the mud deposits in pipes being flushed out after overnight replenishment of the reservoir when pipes were opened the next morning. Townspeople reported that there were no human habitats or activities in the area upstream from the reservoir, so the only pollution by fecal pathogens would be from wildlife. This held a distinct advantage over the streams running through the town, also used for washing, the latter would be much more likely to contain disease causing pathogens spread by much more human and domestic animal activity. Nevertheless, standing by the reservoir,  and looking at the water there (see above) it was not easy to come to terms with what the whole town was drinking and washing in.

During my grandfather's time, before his death in 1979, community maintenance by local people was the norm, but a malaise had fallen on the chiefdom in the decades since then. After the Fasuluku Sonsiama house's loss of the paramount chieftancy during the one party state, the chiefdom suffered 26 years of severe neglect by an absent paramount chief, made worse by 10 years of civil conflict in Sierra Leone ("blood diamonds" were being mined less than 30 kilometres away and combatants raided or took over the town several times during that decade). By the time the new paramount chief was elected in 2006, the well worn custom of voluntary community service to maintain roads and public infrastructure had disappeared and was replaced by a more mercenary attitude. This was exacerbated by the post-war NGO experiment of 'food-for-work', intended to encourage self help and discourage dependency. Food-for-work had the unwanted side-effect of increasing individualism and self interest, and removing people's and communities' sense of social responsibility. Now, at its worst, no communal labour is undertaken without pay, which is often not available. Villagers in Sandoh often won't clean the roads in front of their own houses, and local roads vital for trade and access to healthcare become impassable resulting in many deaths on the way to the nearest hospital, about 55km away in Koidu. People now expect incentives (cash otherwise know as 'transport', food etc.) to attend workshops designed to help them and their communities, or they simply do not attend and do not cooperate with any resulting action plans. While many may benefit from membership of local farming cooperatives, these organisations and their resources are often dominated by one or a few people, who are perceived to receive the most benefits, the organisations are often not seen locally as a means to civic action.  This attitude is not universal, a minority are community activists that have a strong sense of social responsibility and will walk for tens of miles to participate in community activities.

At the dam, we debated about whether, given the above circumstances, it would be possible or we would be able to mobilise the townspeople to come voluntarily and en masse to solve this problem, and we discussed what to do next (see below, apologies for video quality):

Next: Part 2: Mobilising youth leaders, getting the support of the paramount chief, local chiefs and a deeply divided town. 

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Part 2 (draft):  http://sahrfasuluku.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/kayima-gravity-fed-water-supply-dam_25.html

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Summary: Project to mobilise local authorities and whole town of Kayima, to repair and renovate Kayima gravity fed water supply dam to correct heavily polluted water being drunk by towns people,  reduce water borne disease, reduce annual soil incursion and increase water resilience through the dry season.
 http://uk.linkedin.com/in/sofasuluku/ 

Human Rights During Ebola In Sierra Leone Seminar at Hogan Lovells 19 November 2014

Yesterday I went to the Human Rights during Ebola Seminar at Hogan Lovells Law Firm, Holborn Viaduct.

This is just a brief summary [and some of my own thoughts in brackets].

The organisers intend to prepare a detailed report on what was discussed plus a full length video, which I believe is crucial to the future of law and human rights in Sierra Leone and which the Diaspora and those at home need to get involved and engaged with urgently, before resumption of the suspended constitutional review. As one speaker said, the epidemic has given Sierra Leoneans the opportunity to reflect on the constitutional review and to get involved to a high degree. We should see which directions we want to take with our constitution and have maximum involvement in order to ensure it conforms to the best interests of the people and communities of Sierra Leone.

The main part of the meeting comprised of several panel presentations by legal experts and a member of Chatham House, he was not a lawyer but had been a human rights activist for a number of years.

He led off with a run-down of many areas of concern regarding the human rights situation in Sierra Leone during Ebola with many many examples of incidents of concern and questions that need to be addressed. His summary of the situation is vital viewing and I hope it was recorded.

A member of the team at the solicitors firm Hogan Lovells  (how can one call that a firm, it seemed to  occupy the whole of a building of 12 floors!) then gave a run-down of the relevant areas of international law governing human rights in Sierra Leone, namely the international declaration and the convention, these rights she said also had to be provided for in national law in order to be effective.

[However she failed to deal with treaties relating to African Union, or other conventions, which we should have protection of, such as those protecting Indigenous and Peoples Rights, etc. This was most likely due to a variety of factors. One main problem is Sierra Leone has not signed up to and ratified some conventions, or has not taken the next step of bringing them into national law, or even the third step of actually obeying and enforcing the conventions and treaties in real life as opposed to paying lip service. In some cases countries also have to sign up to the jurisdiction of any tribunal or court that would decide a state’s  guilt or innocence, even if they sign up to all these human rights agreements, if they don’t  sign up to the jurisdiction of the courts that enforce them, you end up with a right but nowhere to plead your case. In some cases conventions and treaties have no court in existence, leading to the same result. That does not mean international lobbying and campaigning cannot get results, in the absence of legal redress governments can be constantly reminded and embarrassed with the human rights they are flouting, it is very effective.]

Another member of the panel then made a presentation on the constitution of Sierra Leone itself, I believe he may be one of those involved in the review process. He highlighted a report which I think is vital for everyone to become familiar with that highlights all the HR weaknesses and to those provisions which give too much power to the state to act as it sees fit with no checks or balances. He highlighted a number of those provisions including article 23, 29  among others.  The panel member concentrated on the derogations; this is where a government can suspend part or all of a constitution or convention or its adherence to human rights laws where it is allowed to do so by that document, in times of emergency. He showed what the constitution describes as an emergency and what the president can do. Basically our constitution is full of holes and clever use for the wrong reasons can allow excessive powers to the executive branch of government, with no redress, often removing all powers from the courts to challenge any act taken by government under emergency powers.  Emergency powers must be used frugally and for the shortest possible time, they should not be too easy to invoke at the drop of a hat, should come to an end quickly and should be difficult to extend. Extension is Parliament’s role.

[But, where the sitting Parliament is merely the left hand of the executive, there is no separation of powers and parliament can be used as a stooge to empower the executive’s every whim. The entire principle of the three arms of government; the executive the legislature and the judiciary is to ensure no one arm has absolute power. Our constitution (and our Parliament in its role as check and balance) fails in this respect.  The report is useful for all of us to guide us to what we should be looking out for from a human rights perspective. However I wonder how much attention is paid to cultural, traditional and identity perspectives, after all many human rights documents are drafted by those wishing Africa to become European in its ideology which can wipe out our history, cultural priorities, everything that we are as Africans. Cultural and traditional leadership and hierarchies and ethnicities could be subverted or even discarded under Western style systems of government  and their homogenising effect, as has been the trend for decades.  ]

[A fundamental character of a constitution is the protection of individuals, communities, the vulnerable and upholding their rights. But constitutions can and have been used to promote policies and special interests and even (as in the case of Turkey for example; deny the very existence of ethnic groups within their borders and outlaw any mention of them, thus in one fell swoop removing their entitlements). In such cases provisions of the constitution are used not for the equitable  benefit and protection of human rights of individual citizens, communities, ethnic groups and religions, but instead the constitution’s articles lean towards certain ideological beliefs and special interests. Unrestrained economic growth is one such belief system and provisions that promote this ideology are usually favoured and actively encouraged by western nations and NGO’s. ]

[And yet unrestrained economic growth is very damaging to the environments and societies of most countries, in particular  those in the developing world. We are all seeing the huge landgrabs and the devastating social effect this is having on countless communities in Sierra Leone, creating entire populations displaced from their homes, heritage, land and livelihoods. We are also familiar with accompanying human rights abuses, severe land degradation, microclimate change, changing water tables, deforestation, massive pollution and health issues, and this is only the beginning as large companies have only just begun to crank up their activities. There are some in the ecological community who are attributing the source of the current Ebola epidemic to the loss of habitats caused by deforestation, thus bring man into closer more frequent contact with the original carriers of this disease. A constitution can be used to prioritise business interests and property over people, communities, livelihoods, social justice, etc and remove indigenous peoples’ and communities’ traditional land rights including rights to the resources under their feet.  Under such a constitution, the police’s role as protector of communities and vulnerable individuals is mutated by no fault of their own and they (the police) have no choice but to obey the constitution and protect business interests and property at the expense of people, communities and human rights. ]

We then heard a presentation from Yasmin Jusu-Sherrif who spoke from the women’s perspective on HR in Sierra Leone. Hers was the most stirring and inspirational speech of the evening, while technical it raised many issues pertinent to women but often to all genders as well. While speaking she lobbied the High Commissioner sitting in the audience and WHO to release figures by gender so we can see the disproportional impact ebola has had on women, she highlighted that when doctors die there is a big hubbub in the press but the majority of those who have died have been nurses (estimated at 140 or more) and the manority of those nurses are women as are the carers of the sick and the majority of those infected in the community. She strongly and repeatedly advocated for the right to health to be included in the amended constitution and given the full force of law not just mentioned as a recommendation. She highlighted the absolute refusal of the GoSL to trained women taking on their roles to answer calls at the dysfunctional 117 ebola hotline. She raised question after question after question dealing with all aspects of HR in Sierra Leone including the shooting and killings of civilians in Kono and the arrest of Tam Mbayoh who has now been released. She questioned WHETHER THE LAWYERS AND JUDICIARY OF SIERRA LEONE WERE CARRYING OUT THEIR PRIMARY ROLE  AS PROTECTORS OF THE CONSTITUTION, THE LAW AND HUMAN RIGHTS and challenging unlawful and excessive uses of power.  Or were they allowing themselves to be used. She condemned wholeheartedly the complicity of Tam Mbayoh’s lawyers in participating in a humiliating process involving begging the president’s indulgence rather than using legal means to challenge his actions. And more.

I’m afraid all the speakers raised so many vital points, too many to remember but all very important. Suffice it to say many many questions have been raised by several very sharp minds, the key is to keep these questions in the spotlight in the public eye and start to answer them. I spoke to her afterwards and asked her to input the joint KDDA KU USA press release into the proceedings and outcomes. I also reminded her of the SLUKDERT Conference of Diaspora organisations on the 29^th where all Diaspora organisations will be coming to present their experiences or share their intentions and form partnerships and collaborations.

Finally an appeal was made by the organisers Wi Di Woman Dem for partnership assistance and funds to keep their sensitisation project going in Freetown. They also wish to speak at the SLUKDERT conference. I informed them there is a shortlist being compiled of organisations to speak at the panel session but all organisations will be actively participating in the workshop break out session where the majority of the work and outcomes will be achieved. It promises to be a ground breaking session and the first of its kind, yesterday Ade Daramy and I visited the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and met with the head of their Ebola task force, they are interested in working with  SLUKDERT, and will also liaise with DfID for their involvement, I believe Ade will report on that meeting. I recommend all organisations and those individuals who have done something towards ebola response to  urgently register representatives for the SLUKDERT conference as soon as possible to ensure their voice, their needs and their district’s needs are heard and get to the right places.

PLEASE DO NOT TAKE MY NOTES OF THE MEETING AS A FULLY ACCURATE REPORT, THEY'RE JUST TO GIVE A FLAVOUR OF THE EVENT. The organisers will as I said be preparing their own accurate detailed report and will hopefully provide a full length video.