By Binta Jaiteh
The suffering of residents of Jinack Island and its communities, Jinack Niggi, and Kajatta in Lower Nuimi have just ended when they got pipe-borne water installed around the communities after some decades of difficulty.
It is the first time in the history of the settlement of the island to have pipe-borne water installed in the communities, the persistent lack of fresh drinking water in the communities of Jinack Niggi and Kajatta has been lingering on for decades without any solution.
However, this dilemma come to an end last month when Team Tiemen successfully intervened with both physical and financial resources to provide safe drinking water to the Islanders whose main sources of fresh drinking water are Barra, Banjul, and neighboring Senegalese communities of Jinack Barra and Jatako (all in the same island).
The lack of access to fresh drinking water in the Island communities has become history, with the generous intervention of three enthusiastic Njie brothers called Karamo Njie, Nuha Njie, and Bakary Njie, all from Jinack Island who took on the challenge. This is financially supported by a generous 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, a 65 years old woman of Jinack Kajatta, one of the beneficiary communities of the pipe-borne water project lamented the difficulties they encountered since the settlement of the island.
According to her and other women of Jinack Kajatta and Jinack Niggi, 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 the bulk of which is brought home by women.
“This project brought by the Njie brothers is a blessing in disguise. 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.
She added: “To be honest when we heard that another water promise has been given by the Njie brothers with their friend, we did not believe it because a lot of promises have been made previously to no avail. However, our fears soon comes to pass once they started digging their borehole and started laying their pipes through the mangroves and the rivers, at this moment everyone comes to agree that this is not those usual promises, this is truly a water project we have been crying for all these years.”
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, revealing that the Islands water table is salty and hard to drink from making it incumbent for the Islanders to scavenge for fresh drinking waters from neighboring communities both in Gambia and Senegal.
“These communities have been struggling without fresh drinking water for a very long time, it has been both physically and financially demanding on 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. We pay for transportation through boats, vehicles, and donkey carts,” Imam Baa Kebba 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. For us, we cannot thank enough Karamo, his brothers, and their friend Tiemen in Holland for providing us with safe cleaning drinking water but for also ending the sufferings and the difficulties that everyone has been enduring.”
Speaking on behalf of Team Tiemen, 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 the use of boats and donkey carts, adding that many households go for days without having access to fresh drinking water due to the physical and financial demands that they could not shoulder.
He said their situation motivated Team Tiemen 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 water in the villages for many years without finding a solution. However, the project started when Tiemen and Karamo while at the hotel got into a conversation regarding the lack of access to good drinking water on the Island of Jinack. Karamo regularly buys 20 liters of water for their elderly mother. Tiemen was touched and can’t imagine the suffering the people are going through. So, about six months ago Team Tiemen started the journey to get water to Jinack Island,” Bakary Njie explained.