The final design involved raising the road using local soil mixed with cement, installing culverts and planting vegetation around the road to prevent erosion. A local contractor, Ballast Nedam helped with the final design of the road, provided the road, and helped with the construction. PIWAMP provided some machinery free of charge and Green Impact provided machinery at a reduced rate. The Horse and Donkey Trust and the National Roads Authority oversaw the construction and made sure that the construction met the proper standards. Members of the local villagers provided a great amount of labor during construction.

A member of our partner NGO, The Gambia Horse and Donkey Trust said:

"The local communities as well as those from across the river have all asked me to give thanks to all of you who made it possible for this road to be built, they are quite ecstatic aboout it and people travelled from far and wide to come and see it because they could not believe what they had heard. There were always lots of people to watch and when we  were laying the sticks, the army even turned up to help as they had heard that we needed manpower! It turned out to be a real community effort, with the ladies of each village providing breakfasts and lunches for the drivers and operators of the machines."

On January 3, 2010, a travel team of three students (Laura Thrall, Steven Gardner, and Sean Coffey) and a professor (Dr. Jess Everett) traveled to the Gambia for a second assessment trip.  The group met with a member of the Gambian Horse and Donkey Trust (GHDT).  The GHDT, a non-profit organization that provides care and education for the locals’ horses and donkeys, provided food, lodging, and transportation throughout the trip.  The team stayed in a house near the capitol at the start and end of the trip.  During the rest of our time in The Gambia, we stayed in the GHDT’s house in Sambel Kunda, a village near the section of the Kuntaur-Kudang Road that is in need of restoration.  Our trip goals were to meet with the National Road Authority (NRA) to ensure the road restoration approval, survey drainage areas surrounding the road, train villagers how to repair and maintain the road, obtain health survey results, meet with Concern Universal, and collect well data.

The meeting with the NRA went well; they have given GHDT permission to restore the road.  Their technical advisor, Alan Machray met with the travel team and spoke about the Kuntaur Region.  The team also spoke to the NRA about Ballast Nedam, a Dutch contractor working in the area.  The GHDT has a verbal agreement with Ballast Nedam to work on the road.   They believe that the Ballast Nedam should be able to begin the road restoration in about six months.

To ensure the road restoration will be adequate, the team had intended to do a land survey of the surrounding drainage areas while in The Gambia.  Unfortunately, we were unable to do so because our airline had lost our Total Station.  This piece of equipment is essential to gathering the required survey information.  However, we did walk the road and measured the locations of two existing culverts using a handheld GPS devise for future reference.  These locations can be seen in Appendix 1

One of the people who has assisted the Rowan EWB Chapter for the past year is Travis Warrington.  Travis is a Peace Corp volunteer who has been working in and around the villages that use the Kuntaur-Kudang Road.  For the past year he had enlisted the help of a local, Salifu Bah (Bah), to assist with the health surveys and collect data at our request. During the second assessment trip, the travel team met with Travis and Bah to go through the data and discuss the results. Travis and Bah had to modify some of the questions during translation and wanted to make sure the team understood the results. These are discussed in more detail in the Data section of the report.

With Travis and Bah as our guides, we traveled to each of the eight villages that use the Kuntaur-Kudang Road.  One of the biggest problems with the Kuntaur-Kudang Road is that deep ruts make travel difficult and in some cases unsafe.  Therefore, while at each village, the team taught the villagers about proper rut control.  A mock rut was dug into the road and then repaired with the villager’s typical method.  This method consists of filling the rut with soil from the side of the road. This soil is dry and dusty and does not stay in place well.  To show the inadequacy of this method, a bike was ridden over the poorly repaired rut.  Then, with the villagers’ participation, the team demonstrated a better way to repair the rut.  In order to condense the soil that will fill the rut, water is added.  The rut in then filled with this wet soil in small increments, each compacted by being pounded with sturdy tree branches.  The bike again rides over the repaired rut to show the effectiveness of the new method. The villagers were very happy to be shown this better method of rut repair.

On our previous assessment trip, numerous village chiefs had expressed concerns with water access.  Therefore, on our second trip, we decided to collect well and water collection data to assist in future efforts of water accessibility improvement.  The locations of each well were recorded with a handheld GPS unit, which can be seen in Appendix 1.  In Appendix 2 are the data collected for each well, including depth to ground water, depth to the bottom of the well, well diameter, water retrieval system, and water usage.  Any other well or water data the villagers shared is included.  The well information collected is explained in more detail in the Data section of this report.

The travel team also met with Paul Johnson of Concern Universal (CU) on two separate occasions, once before and once after visiting the villages. Concern Universal is an NGO that works in many countries to support practical applications that enable people to improve their lives. Trying to solve the water collection and distribution system problem is something they’re already focusing on. During the first meeting with Mr. Johnson, the team explained its role with EWB and what it hopes to accomplish in the Kuntaur Region. Mr. Johnson explained the role of his company and what they aim to do.  He also revealed that Concern Universal is already doing some work in the same area we are with the Kuntaur-Kudang Road restoration. He was kind enough to show us around the CU yard where they keep several prototypes of rope pumps with different designs. The team collected some information on different concepts to potentially use for future work.  The second meeting was to discuss future ideas for the rope pump.  Mr. Johnson explained some of the technical problems they are experiencing with their designs and we discussed possible solutions. We hope that future work partnered with Paul Johnson and Concern Universal will help provide cost effective, easy to use, and maintain pumps for the eight villages located along the Kuntaur-Kudang Road.  After the meetings, both parties agreed to remain in contact and support one another in their projects. 

Although we were unable to survey the drainage area, much was accomplished.  Road restoration approval from the NRA is very important before the work can begin.  The villagers’ knowledge of repairing ruts is critical to the future of the road.  The health survey results, cooperation with Concern Universal, and well data results will help in future projects in the region.