From now on we would like to share some Pimp My Village Diaspora stories with you on a frequent basis in which we will be following some of our favorite Ambassadors in their work.
In this way we hope to make them more visible and see how their projects evolve.
We will be starting off with CD4D (Connecting Diaspora for Development – IOM) Ambassador Abubakarr Barunga. We have been featuring Abubakarr often because of his projects containing the nice bags from Sierra Leone and the SEP tailor workshop. But Abubakarr does more projects in cooperation with SEP Investment Services. This social enterprise creates local employment and fosters an entrepreneurial mind-set among youths in the country.
Getting some insight in Abubakar’s work:
Abubakarr just came back from Sierra Leone and is occupied with his Rope pump-Bolehole project.
Abubakarr:“I was introduced to the rope pump in 2020 by student interns at the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) in The Netherlands. I felt excited and enthusiastic after learning about this product and its potential contribution to distribute clean drinking water to the people in Sierra Leone.“
In 2021 Abubakarr supported the students from the Delft University for a one-month internship in Sierra Leone to launch the product. 15 rope pumps were installed, 10 of which were donated to schools in and around the capital Freetown.
In 2023 SEP conducted an assessment of the pumps’ functionalities. Unfortunately, most of the pumps had been destroyed or were malfunctioning. This was due to technical abnormalities, lack of care by pump owners, and lacking after-sales activities by SEP.
Abubakarr” This was really unfortunate, and we needed to find a solution and make it work!”
After looking for extra help from people with the right experience the students and Abubakarr got a meeting with Henk Holtslag, a rope pump expert and promoter in the Netherlands.
Abubakarr:” Henk advised us to use the rope pump on a borehole. The rope pump, he said, functions better in a borehole than in wells where the first 15 pumps had been installed.”
Abubakarr and his team installed the first rope pump on a borehole at the SEP premises in Macdonald in Freetown in 2023. Abubakarr: “The result of this pilot project was fantastic: the water flowed so well out of the bore hole.”
The SEP team in Sierra Leone will design a business case for the manufacturing, sales, distribution, installation, and maintenance of the rope pump on boreholes to support smallholder operations and agricultural development in Sierra Leone.
Abubakarr” this is a very positive turn in things and we are exited to move on!”
We will keep sharing Abubakarrs story every few
weeks so next time more…
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