Bring clean water to a Mali village

The people of the remote village of Koungodjan in the country of Mali have a hard time accessing clean drinking water.

As a result, it’s a huge burden to carry water from distant wells, and people are getting sick from impure water. That’s why I, Lassine Doumbia, organized a project to build a water well and water tower in Koungodjan.

As one of the few residents of Koungodjan to immigrate to the United States and pursue a professional career with the U.S. government, I am committed to making life better for the people back home.

I built the Sibiry Doumbia Community Memorial Health Center in 2004 and the school (L’Ecole Fondamentale de Koungodjian) in 1994.

My next major project is the construction of a well and water tower system to serve the health center, the school, and the mosque.

After exhausting my own funds and other resources, including funds from the Mali government for the school, and private foundations to expand and operate the school, health center, and now the water supply project, we still need $25,000 to close the funding gap.

Every basic service is a struggle in Mali, one of the poorest countries in the world. I dedicated the health clinic to my father, who died of medical complications from a broken hip at age 97 after waiting five days for a medical technician to arrive in the village from the capital city of Bamako.

After my father died, I inherited the role of village chief while living in Fairfax County, Va. I stay closely connected to the village remotely in between trips back home.

The clinic provides such services as medical exams, childbirth assistance, immunizations, and health and nutrition education and has a pharmacy. I am planning to expand the Health Center to include advanced diagnostics and the ability to refrigerate vaccines.

Before the school was built, children had to bike to a school 16 miles away – that is when they had access to a bicycle. I have expanded the school in recent years and it now serves children from preschool to grade 9.

The school and clinic – and the future water project – will continue to make life better for the residents of Koungodjan. Access to clean water is especially important as this sub-Sahara country is getting even drier due to climate change.

To everyone who takes clean water for granted – who fills a glass from the tap without thinking – give a thought to those who don’t have that. And please give what you can to help the people of Koungodjan realize their dream of clean drinking water. No donation is too small.