Lack of drinking water and precarious sanitation: Seoudji, this village in Bakel on the verge of suffocation

Located in the commune of Sinthiou Fissa, in the heart of the Bakel department, the village of Seoudji is suffocating under the weight of inadequate infrastructure. In this isolated community, access to drinking water and basic medical care are a daily struggle for the local population.

Dieynaba Sow, spokesperson for the women of the village, expressed a distress shared by all the residents. She explained that women have to walk several kilometers in search of even the smallest amount of water, a trying situation that directly impacts the daily lives of families, where many children now go to school without being able to wash. During this rainy season, the village is entirely dependent on an outdated water system.

Brackish water sold at exorbitant prices

This well, commissioned in the 1960s, provides highly saline water and suffers from repeated breakdowns throughout the year. Faced with these malfunctions, households are forced to buy jerrycans of water at a price of 100 CFA francs each, an unbearable financial burden for the poorest families.

The village chief deplores this neglect and denounces the lack of consideration shown to his constituents. The villagers are therefore launching an urgent appeal to local and central authorities to avert a major health crisis.

A poorly equipped health post and births taking place en route

The health situation is equally critical. The only health post in the area is desperately lacking in equipment and basic medicines. Emergency medical evacuations are carried out in precarious conditions, most often aboard donkey-drawn carts towards Tambacounda or Kidira.

This lack of adequate infrastructure regularly leads to tragedies during patient transfers, with several women having given birth en route in deplorable hygienic conditions. Faced with this marginalization, the community of Seoudji is appealing to the government to bring their community out of neglect.