Herefordshire based international development charity, Hope Spring Water Charity, completed and handed over its latest clean water project in Agege, Lagos, Nigeria on the 11th of February 2024. The charity worked with the Ifeloju community development association, a local church and a London based social enterprise Ozami birthday cards to create a drinking water solution for the three-hundred people strong Ifeloju community and their neighbours.
Discussion about the project started in the middle of last year, when members of the board of Ifeloju community contacted their Hope Spring water via their office in Lagos, Nigeria. After ensuring that the community met all the criteria the NGO like communities to meet before working with them, the conversation about the project started. A memorandum of understanding was agreed around December 2023, which led to work on the borehole commencing in January 2024.
The borehole and the plumbing associated with it was project managed by Mrs H Balogun of Hope Spring water Nigeria, with a lot of assistance members of the board of trustees of Ifeloju community. The project was completed at the end of January 2024, with the official handing over scheduled for the 11 of February, 2024.
At the handing over ceremony which was attended by the board of trustees of Ifeloju community, trustees of Hope Spring water Nigeria as well as the founder of Hope Spring Temi Odurinde. The chairman of Ifeloju thanked Hope Spring for their clean water knowledge and for arranging the funding of the project. He remarked that water per se is not the problem in their community, they have plenty of water. The problem is that the water is contaminated and not suitable for drinking. He added that they have been struggling with this clean drinking water problem for many years. Their attempt to raise money for a community borehole was not successful, until Hope Spring came to the rescue.
Speaking on behalf of Hope Spring, the project manager Mrs Balogun said “it was a pleasure to work with Ifeloju CDU on this project. He praised the community for swiftly finding solutions to challenges encountered during the project, particularly finding a suitable place for the borehole in the community”. She thanked the Ifeloju community for taking ownership and future maintenance of the project”.
You can find more information about the project on Hope Spring website and their social media pages.