Ibrahim Touray from Gambia studies to help his community improve life
I am working at the Ministry of Health in Gambia. I'm a public health professional and work extensively in the rural community of Gambia. I provide community interventions, organize monthly community meetings and promote health education activities at schools. I monitor and inspect water and sanitation facilities and infrastructures within my area. I aim to foster capacity building of stakeholders in water and sanitation within the urban areas, and at the community level. I experienced that a lot of stakeholders work independently. However, why can't we all come together and work together and solve this common problem that is affecting our community?
How did you hear about IHE Delft?
I heard about IHE Delft through my colleagues who studied at IHE Delft. They emphasized the students-teacher interactions and the possibilities to build skills and grow an international network.
I visited the website and read stories, watched videos and became enthusiastic. When I received my admission, the admission officers from IHE Delft send me information to apply for possible scholarships. For some scholarships I was not eligible as these were not for my country.
I was eligible for the Joint Japan Worldbank Graduate Scholarship Programme (JJWBGSP) and applied. I filled in the online application form and uploaded required documents: admission letter from IHE Delft, statement of purpose, BSc degree, curriculum vitae and other files. Finally, you have to submit two professional recommendations. I also accepted the conditions: that I will implement what I have learned in my home country and then I received an email from the Joint Japan Secretariat that I was selected for the scholarship. I also had to do a medical test. The process is not difficult, it does not require a lot of time. Getting recommendation letters is an important part of the process and should be done early.
Growing up in Gambia, I wanted to become a medical doctor to help the community. Later on, I realized that medical doctors are focused on patients. I was interested in helping a wider community to improve their life, and so I got interested in public health, water and sanitation.
Water situation in Gambia
There are issues in groundwater depletion due to the growing population. Communities depend on groundwater for drinking and there is a lot of borehole drilling, which in the long run is depleting our resources. With climate change, this pose a lot of risks. A lot of people are now relying on using independent boreholes instead of using the government system.
Flooding is another issue in Gambia, especially in the capital city Banjul. The sanitation infrastructure is going to be affected by floods - toilets and wastewater treatment infrastructure can be severely affected - and this results in polluted water reaching drinking water lines. The percentage of E.coli bacteria in our water system is around 73%, which is an indication of faecal contamination. This motivated me to do my research in this area.
Experience at IHE Delft
This is a remarkable experience and equally interesting. We share experiences about our sanitation and water system infrastructure. We learn from each other; strategies, implementation, what works and does not work.
Teachers will guide you through the process. If you have issues or any challenges they are always open for questions, especially for the assignments and group work. Group work opened up my mind to interact with different people with a wide variety of opinions. Putting all those perspectives together to produce a one group documents was quite interesting.
I also appreciate the field trips and debates organized to improve my debating skills. Presentation skills are also highly valued and you always get some constructive criticism. The course coordinators are very helpful and approachable. In addition, the diversity at IHE Delft; you see people from all over the world with different backgrounds, which is quite interesting.
After graduation
I will definitely go back to Gambia to apply the knowledge and skills. I encourage my colleagues to apply, in fact one of them is applying next year! He's also working within the public health sector. We need the human resource capacity to improve our water and sanitation infrastructure.
Interested?
IHE Delft offers two new Master of Science programmes: the MSc in Water and Sustainable Development and the Research MSc in Water and Sustainable Development. Furthermore, IHE Delft is involved in joint MSc Programmes offered with partner institutes.
