People of the Island community of Jinack have expressed delight over the provision of access to clean and fresh drinking water by the Tiemen group after more than five decades without such a basic necessity.
The demand for fresh drinking water by Jinack Kajatta and Jinack Niggi villagers from the Governments of Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara, Yahya Jammeh, and Adama Barrow has been consistent. Still, without heed from either, leaving the villagers with no option other than resorting to buying fresh drinking water from the nearby communities of Barra, Banjul, or its neighboring communities of Jinack Barra and Jinack Jatako in Senegal, have since been enjoying adequate and stable water and electricity supply.
However, the lack of access to fresh drinking water in the Island communities has become history, with the generous intervention of three enthusiastic Njie brothers. (Karamo Njie, Nuha Njie and Bakary Njie) All from Jinack Island, who took on the challenge. This is financially supported by a gracious man called Tiemen and his family in Holland. Thus succeeding on the behest of the failures of three subsequent governments of The Gambia.
Aramata Jammeh six five (65) years old woman from Jinack Kajarta, one of the beneficiary communities of the pipe-borne water project, recounted the difficulties encountered by women of Jinack Kajatta and Jinack Niggi, revealing that most households fetch fresh drinking water from either Barra, Banjul or from their good families/ neighboring communities of Jinack Barra and Jinack Jatako both in Senegal.
“This project brought by the Njie brothers is a blessing in disguise, for we have been yearning for clean drinking water for the community of Jinack for far too long. We have made numerous appeals to the government, philanthropists, NGOs, and Agencies, among others, to no avail but thanks to Karamo Njie, his brothers, and their family friends Tiemen we now have pipe-borne water in our villages,” Aramatta Jammeh, expressed her joy.
Imam Baa Kebba Manneh of Jinack Kajatta expressed similar sentiments hinting that access to clean drinking water has been challenging for every household and family living in Jinack Kajatta and Niggi.
He said that the island’s water table is salty and hard to drink, making it incumbent for the Islanders to scavenge for fresh drinking water from neighboring communities in Gambia and Senegal.
“These communities have been struggling without fresh drinking for a very long time; it has been physically and financially demanding for all families to get fresh drinking water. At least each family will pay D300 to D500 per week for fresh drinking water that they fetch in Banjul, Barra, and Jinack, Senegal. That they pay for transportation through boats, vehicles, and Donkey carts,” Imam Baa Kebna Manneh explained.
He added: “A lot of families also go without drinking fresh water and have to manage with the salty water available at the villages because they cannot afford to bear the cost of a 20liters gallon of water costing D18. Therefore, we cannot thank Karamo, his brothers, and their friend Tiemen in Holland for providing us with safe, clean drinking water but for ending the sufferings and difficulties, everyone has been enduring.”
Councilor Michel Mendy of Essau Ward and Ousman Janneh, a Youth Leader among others, all hailed the water project, describing it as timely and a means to alleviating the suffering of the villagers who have been yearning for a freshwater project for years without redress, adding that the project will also minimize the among of monies families spend on fetching and transporting of gallons of fresh drinking water into their households.
Speaking on behalf of Team Tieman, Bakary Njie, disclosed that the issue of clean drinking water has been a concern for him and his two brothers (Karamo Njie and Nuha Njie) very long time without a solution, revealing that the water project comes to being after the genuine intervention of a family friend Tiemen, a citizen of Netherlands who sponsored the project financially to its level.
He reiterated the difficult and painful experiences of the villagers in accessing fresh drinking water in their households through boats and donkey cards, adding that many families go for days without access to fresh drinking water due to the physical and financial demands they could not shoulder.
According to him, since independence, the people of Jinack have been living without access to clean drinking water, leaving many of them to resort to drinking well salty waters available in the village, revealing that finding a solution to this awful situation motivated Team Tiemen n to mobilize both human and financial resources to embark on this project.
“This is like a dream come through as we have always been crying and yearning for access to fresh drinking in the villages for many years without finding a solution. Finally, however, the project started when Tiemen and Karamo visited one local hotel where Tiemen was swimming in a pool; he was calling Karamo but lost concentration. When Tiemen asked him what the problem was, he said he was wondering how Tiemen was enjoying the pool when his village was without water,” Bakary Njie disclosed how the water project came about.
