The Japanese Red Cross and International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Society through The Gambia Red Cross Society support this project.
The Secretary General of GRCS Alasan Senghore said he was pleased to see progress and completion of work at the project sites.
He stated that the activeness of the communities were highly impressive and that saw that they were really in need of support to serve the purpose.
On why they targeted the two settlements, he explained that they did an assessment into communities that needed it the most.
“We realised that the two communities needed the projects because they live off road where access to water is a challenge. “They are really vulnerable and that’s how we identify them. The issue of Kanilai was lack of sustainability because electricity was used to generate water and the women were paying D10, 000 per month to get water for their garden. Giving them solar is something really helpful in the availability and sustainability of water supply”, he stated.
Senghore added that the communities were also provided with seeds and tools, noting that it is part of their plans to help other communities who are vulnerable.
The Red Cross boss also said that he expects the community to continue to cultivate and generate vegetable for their own consumption and to get income to sustain themselves.
He said there are plans to link the gardeners with hotels and other associations in order to buy their goods.
Sarjo A.F. Jallow, regional chairperson for West Coast explained that the project is purposely to support women gardeners.
“What they spend on cash power is far more than what they gain after marketing their goods”, he explained.
He called on other donors to support them in the process of supporting vulnerable communities within West Coast.
Ebrima Cole, Managing Director and lead technician at SWI GAM Company Ltd explained that his responsibility in Kanilai was to convert the electrically operated system of water supply over to solar generated system.
“When we did our survey, the garden was 1. 9 hectors but we generated a system that will be able to deliver 141, 000 litre of water daily, so that the surpluses 50, 000 can go to the village because sometimes they do have water shortage. Currently we have about 4.9 kilowatt solar power, 20, 000 litre water storage system and 5.5 kilo watt inverter that is operating the system”, he explained.
Isatou Sanneh, a native of Kanilai expressed delight with the support, saying former president Jammeh used to buy their vegetables.
