Wai Sierra Leone

Wai Community - Sierra Leone
Health Clinic

2026 update

The Sierra Leone team has been hard at work moving the Wai Community Health Clinic project toward construction. After years of planning, coordination, and design work, the project has reached an exciting milestone: the construction drawings for the clinic building are complete and have been submitted to the Contractor for bidding and to EWB-USA headquarters for final approval. This marks an important transition from the design phase into construction, bringing the team one step closer to seeing the clinic become a reality for the Wai community and catchment region.

The project is being developed in phases, with the team continuing to refine the clinic design while preparing for the next stages of implementation. Ongoing and future work includes construction administration for clinic construction, finalization of the staff quarters design, and site grading plans. Site grading will be particularly important for establishing proper drainage, accessibility, and a suitable foundation for the remaining construction. Together, these efforts will help ensure that the clinic and supporting facilities are built to serve the community safely and sustainably for years to come.

An EWB Puget Sound Professional Travel Team is preparing to make the nearly 6,800-mile journey from Seattle, Washington, to Wai, Sierra Leone. The upcoming trip will provide an opportunity for EWB volunteers to work directly alongside our in-country partners and community members, assess on-site progress, and support the next steps in construction. Traveling to Wai is an important part of EWB’s community-driven approach, allowing our team to collaborate directly with the people who will use and maintain the clinic while ensuring that the project continues to reflect the community’s needs and priorities.

As the project moves closer to construction, continued fundraising is more important than ever. Donations will help provide the resources needed to advance construction of the remaining clinic scope and its supporting infrastructure, including site work, water and sanitation systems, energy systems, and staff facilities. We have set a goal of $100,000 for the remaining needs of the project! Every contribution brings us closer to completing a much-needed community health center for Wai and creating a lasting resource for generations to come.

We’re incredibly excited to see this project continue to move forward and are grateful to everyone who has supported the Sierra Leone team along the way. From completing the designs to preparing for construction and traveling to Wai, there is a lot of momentum behind this project, and we’re excited for what comes next!

The Community

Located near the southern tip of Sierra Leone in West Africa, Wai is a small rural community that relies primarily on agricultural subsistence for their economic livelihood. Generally lacking in sufficient resources to maintain a basic standard of living, the people of Wai have been generally neglected of government assistance due to its remote location.

The Need

The Wai Community once had a functional health clinic, but it was destroyed because of the recent armed conflict in the region. A temporary clinic has been set up following the conflict, but this facility lacks the adequate supplies, equipment and medical expertise that are necessary to provide comprehensive health care to the community members. As a result, maternal and infant deaths have been increasing and the general community has suffered from a spike in disease related to the tropical environment and inadequate sanitation.

TIMELINE

September 2026

The Travel Team is preparing to make the journey from Seattle, Washington, nearly 6,800 miles to Wai, Sierra Leone. This upcoming trip will be an important opportunity for the team to work directly with the local community, assess project progress on the ground, and support the next steps in construction of the community health clinic. As the team prepares for international travel, members are coordinating logistics, finalizing project plans, and getting ready to collaborate with our in-country partners and community members in Wai.

August 2026

The contract documents are complete and have been submitted to the Contractor for bidding. Final implementations plans are being finalized to submit for EWB-USA headquarters. The community has been notified to mobilize community volunteers to support the projec

February 2026

The draft project drawings are complete and have been submitted to EWB-USA headquarters for initial review, marking an important milestone in the project timeline. With the design phase nearing completion, the project is moving from planning and design toward construction. The future bidding process will allow contractors to review the finalized plans and submit proposals for the work, helping the team identify a qualified contractor and establish the next steps for construction. This brings the project one step closer to breaking ground and bringing the new community health clinic in Wai, Sierra Leone to life.

2020

Due to COVID-19, all international travel has been postponed. The project team is continuing to engage the local NGO and community partners to move the program forward towards implementation of Sanitation, Structures, and Power in 2021 or 2022. Specifically, the team has sent preliminary sanitation drawings for review and is getting architectural drawings developed for review and construction estimates.

April 2019 – Water Implementation and Sanitation Assessment Trip

The community now has 7 working wells - the project team worked with contractors to rehabilitate 3 wells. The community-based Water Committee was trained on regular maintenance and inspection of the wells to ensure sustainability. Additionally, the project team performed an assessment of alternatives for latrine designs and medical waste methods by surveying the local community, meeting with government officials, and benchmarking neighboring villages.

May 2018 – Water Assessment Trip

The project team had identified from the 2017 trip that water was a high priority for community members. The team found that the community had an adequate number of wells, but the pumps were either broken or the wells were open. As a way to provide the community with clean, reliable water, the travel team found that this could be achieved by rehabilitating a number of the well pumps.

May 2017 – Assessment Trip

The project team performed its first assessment trip to the Wai Community. The purpose of this trip was to build a relationship with the community, assess the feasibility of constructing a clinic and evaluate existing resources within the community. The team had a successful trip where they met with key members of the community, conducted surveys, and toured the proposed project site.

March 2016 – Project Kickoff

EWB established a partnership with the community and started conversations with the community NGO.

The Approach

The Wai Community approached the Puget Sound Chapter of EWB asking for assistance in constructing a new health clinic that will be able to adequately meet their needs for medical care. EWB is partnering with the Seattle chapter of Architects Without Borders to draft an architectural design for the health care facility. The team is also working to bring basic utilities to the clinic such as water, sanitation and energy, all of which are resources that are in short supply in Wai. EWB-PSP is currently planning on implementing new well pumps for the community and evaluating the use of sustainable latrines and an updated medical waste zone for sanitation purposes.

The volunteers of EWB are working closely with the members of the Wai Community to ensure that all project design decisions are in line with what they believe to be best for their needs. EWB is also seeking partnerships with medical practitioners to ensure that the clinic will be stocked with adequate supplies. The project team will work with the community and local officials to ensure that the staff of the clinic are sufficiently trained to deliver safe and reliable medical care.

JOIN US: projects@ewbseattle.org [1]

Sanitation, Logistics, and Facilitation help needed.

[2]

Wai Community - Sierra Leone Health Clinic