To me it appeared to be a harder way of life, but to them, it was just another day in Freetown or Bo. I would take trips with my cousins to the nearest well to collect water for the week and I was saddened to see the obvious lack of sanitation in the water. It became all too clear to me why my parents had made preparations to send bottled water to our relative’s homes before we got there. We didn’t live in Sierra Leone so the water would be foreign to us, and therefore, unsafe to drink. Having known this, I still do not know why I took that fateful sip of water with my dinner one night, but after I did, it was not long before I suffered the consequences. Let’s just say it was not fun, but I was okay.

Unfortunately, others have not been so lucky. Unsafe water is a big deal and a serious concern in many countries around the world. African countries like Sierra Leone know this all too well. Cholera, a waterborne infectious disease that brings about symptoms of severe watery diarrhea, has recently hit Sierra Leone hard. Just last year, my dear country had a large outbreak with over 23,000 cases reported and nearly 300 deaths due to cholera. With simple improvements to water sanitation and educating the community on how to sanitize their water, a large number of these cases could have been prevented. However, this is where we come in. Link to news article on 2012 Cholera Outbreak in Sierra Leone: http://www.voanews.com/content/sierra-leone-working-to-prevent-cholera-outbreaks/1725951.html

Through our cholera project, we are looking to reach 30,000 individuals by working to fully understand the impact of the disease in the lives of the infected, educate the local community on how they can prevent the spread of the disease, and evaluate the effectiveness of our efforts. Check out our cholera project on our website for more details and see what you can do to help solve this problem. Any thoughts? Until next time, peace and out.
http://www.westafricanmedicalmissions.org/page/show/819869-cholera-intervention-project