PROJECT KATOE

The Katoe Project was QEWFA’s first large scale project in the village of Katoe in Togo, West Africa. This project kicked off all the remarkable things we plan to execute in the area. Katoe is a small village about 118 KM outside of Lomé, Togo’s capital city.

The roads are not paved and there was no drinkable water on the way to provide any relief to travelers.

Villagers had to make the journey to the nearest water source in other villages to gather and take back what they could carry by foot. Conditions worsened during the dry season when there was no rain water to collect.

The water that could be collected was stagnant water that may have pooled somewhere from an earlier rain.

It was water that most people in the modernized world would not even feel comfortable stepping in let alone consuming. This was also the water source for local wild life so the prevalence of waterborne disease, fecal matter, bacteria, and such the like was always high resulting in persistent sickness amongst the people.

Another challenge in Katoe was the fact that the nearest school for children to attend was approximately 4 km away in a neighboring village.

As a result of the scarcity of drinkable water in Katoe, both hygiene and hydration were two extremely important things that were being neglected and served as the main culprits behind poor school attendance, cleanliness, and the declining health and hygienic conditions of the children and the families inhabiting Katoe.

As of April 2021, all the above was changed forever. QEWFA installed its first solar powered water well in a central location in Katoe that now gives over 2000 people access to clean drinkable water for the first time in their lives

The presence of local clean drinking water has improved improve hygienic conditions, improved overall health conditions, increased in school attendance and success, decreased infant mortality, and brought jobs to the village as the wells need to be properly maintained.