Help Moussa bring clean water to his village in Mali

Gruener Grashalm is raising money to fund a project trip to the village of Tiedjiguinela in Mali, where our friend and active member of our organisation Moussa is from.  For Moussa, this will be his first chance to return home and visit his family in over 10 years, since leaving for Europe via Libya and Lampedusa.   One aim of our trip is to set up a partnership between our organisation and the local community in Tiedjiguinela.  This will enable us to work together and develop follow-up initiatives for environmentally sustainable projects that will improve the community’s prospects.  We have already received €1300 funding from the Berlin based foundation Stiftung Nord-Sued-Bruecken to kick-start this part of the project.  Moussa wants to help improve access to clean drinking water in Tiedjiguinela.  With your support, we hope to raise the further funds necessary to purchase and install a solar-powered pump, 4 solar panels and a 2000 litre water holding and purifying tank. 
 

Tiedjiguinela is a small farming community of about 1000 people in the south of the country, close to the border with the Ivory Coast.  It is a day’s travel from the nearest city, with no access to the electricity grid.  The only water source is a traditional hand dug well, which is primarily operated by women and young girls in the village.  It is a labour intensive and difficult process, but one that is essential not only for providing water for cooking and drinking but also for irrigating the crops during the dry season. The economy of Tiedjiguinela revolves around subsistence farming of grains and corn, while cotton is grown and sold to the government for export to the international market.  The village now has a small school, where pupils receive a basic education until the age of 10.  Most of the men leave the village after sowing their crops to work as wage labourers in the nearby city of Sikasso or the capital Bamako, in order to support their families, returning for the harvest.  Others, such as Moussa, are compelled to venture further afield, to northern Africa and Europe – an undertaking which is becoming ever more perilous.              

We met Moussa three years ago through the Refugees Welcome initiative in Berlin. Since then,  he has become a close friend and an active member of our organisation participating in many of our social projects. Through his open-mindedness, warmth and engagement he has contributed to the life of our organisation and to our international youth work and we would now like to support him in his initiative to improve the situation for his community and family in Mali.