THIS is all that remains of the well which cost tragic Mustapha Tamba his life – just yards from his home.

Grieving villagers filled in the borehole after retrieving the little eight-year-old’s broken body and burying him in their graveyard.

A crude concrete mound is now the only sign it ever existed.

Former villager Lamin Tamba said: “The scene when the people of the village found Mustapha was truly horrific.

“There was so much blood, even if they’d wanted to keep the well open it would have been impossible to ever draw clean water from it again.

“It can be seen from his mother’s house and, as much for her sake, they decided to obliterate it.”

Mustapha's death was the catalyst for the Well Of Life appeal which brought hope to his home village.

Timeline to a lifeline.

How the Well Of Life appeal raised thousands to help villagers in Sintet.

  • MARCH 2015: Well Of Life Appeal launched. Amblecote businessman Geoff Hill gets the ball rolling with a donation of £1,000.
  • MAY 2015: African-themed fundraising event day in Ryemarket shopping centre raises £2,000, backed by £1,000 of match-funding from Barclays Bank.
  • JUNE 2015: Back-to-back bag pack and African fundraising event at town branch of Tesco raises combined total of £1,270; Borehole is drilled and strikes water at 24 metres.
  • JULY 2015: £10,000 appeal target is reached.
  • AUGUST 2015: Halesowen Cycling Club raises more than £1,000 from bank holiday fundraising ride.
  • OCTOBER 2015: Competition for primary school pupils to design Mustapha’s Well Of Life plaque announced in association with Tesco.
  • DECEMBER 2015: Solar panel is installed on farm at Sintet; Rufford Primary School pupil Sharna Stevens revealed as Mustapha’s Well Of Life competition winner.
  • FEBRUARY 2016: Work installing water pipe network and irrigation system nears completion and water tower is erected; Final fundraising event, a bag pack at Tesco, raises £1,000, meaning Well Of Life Appeal has covered every penny of buying and installing system.
  • MARCH 2016: Mustapha’s Well Of Life installation completed. Project Gambia volunteers visit the farm at Sintet to see system unveiled and mount memorial plaque.