Project Status



Project Type:  Borehole Well and Hand Pump

Program: Wells for Kenya

Impact: 426 Served

Project Phase: 
Community Managed
Implementing Partner Monitoring Data Unavailable
Initial Installation: May 2014

Project Features


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Community Profile

This project is part of Bridge Water Project's program in Western Kenya. What follows is direct from them:

PROPOSED PROJECT

The proposed Mahakini Preparatory School is a Mixed Day and Boarding Primary School, Started in the year, 1997 through the efforts of St. Philip Anglican Church of Kenya (A. C. K) with an aim of eradicating illiteracy in the area where the church serves. Since the inception of Mahakini School many children have made their ways to recognized secondary school in the republic of Kenya. Despite the fact that the school does very well academically, its big challenge among many others is access to quality water supply. The school management committee made a request to Bridge Water Project office requesting for an intervention into the situation and provide a solution through the drilling a borehole for their school.

CURRENT WATER SOURCE

The school currently gets water from Chepngesu river located 1km Eastern side of the school. The water records a turbid value of 90 below the (WHO) recommendation. During long dry spell the school boils the water before it is served for drinking but during heavy rains, the river over flows hence water being highly contaminated with lots dirt hence not being possible for any human consumption at all.

During rainy seasons the school harvests water in a 5,000 litres Masonry Tank, 6,000 upvc Tank and a 2,300 upvc Tank from the school roofs and due to high consumption the harvested water in tanks doesn’t fulfill the school water domestic requirements. Teachers and pupils always suffer from Typhoid diseases hence not being able to attend their lessons fully.

POPULATION

The school has enrollment of Girls 147, Boys 195, teachers 18, none teaching staff 16 a total population of 426 people.

SANITATION AND HYGIENE

The school has a kitchen where food is prepared from, outside the kitchen there is a dish rack where the utensils are dried. There are pit latrines, Girls 6, Boys 5 and teachers 5. These toilets are rarely washed since water is not easily accessed. The school has bathrooms for both Girls and Boys with cloth lines where clothes are dried. There’s a compost pit where litter is dumped. There are no hands washing stations in the school.

PROJECT BENEFICIARIES

The pupils and teaches of Mahakini School will be the beneficiaries if the borehole will be drilled.

ASSESSING THE NEED

There’s need to drill a borehole for Mahakini Preparatory School that is aimed at improving sanitation and hygiene status of the entire school.  It will also enable pupils to access quality water and reduce water borne disease cases in both pupils and staff.

If a well is drilled, it will enable the pupils to spend more time on their studies and co-curriculum activities instead of going to the river.

WATER COMMITTEE

The school management already has a water committee which will be trained in WASH methodologies by BWP WASH staff before implementation of the project. Training will target pupils and teachers.

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Project Photos


Project Type

Abundant water is often right under our feet! Beneath the Earth’s surface, rivers called aquifers flow through layers of sediment and rock, providing a constant supply of safe water. For borehole wells, we drill deep into the earth, allowing us to access this water which is naturally filtered and protected from sources of contamination at the surface level. First, we decide where to drill by surveying the area and determining where aquifers are likely to sit. To reach the underground water, our drill rigs plunge through meters (sometimes even hundreds of meters!) of soil, silt, rock, and more. Once the drill finds water, we build a well platform and attach a hand pump. If all goes as planned, the community is left with a safe, closed water source providing around five gallons of water per minute! Learn more here!


Lorna Chepkemei

April, 2014

It is Lorna’s desire that she and the rest of the pupils spend more time in their studies and co-curriculum activities instead of going to fetch water.

Keeping The Water Promise

There's an incredible community of monthly donors who have come alongside you in supporting clean water in Mahakini Preparatory School.

This giving community supports ongoing sustainability programs that help Mahakini Preparatory School maintain access to safe, reliable water. Together, they keep The Water Promise.

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Lorna Chepkemei goes to Mahakini preparatory school. She has been in this school for the past eight years and she hopes to leave the school better than she found it.

Lorna hails from Kabiemit Village which is in Nandi District. She is fourteen years and the second born in a family of four. Her parents, Emily and Nickson Ng’etich, do farming so as to fend for the family. When not in school, Lorna and her siblings help around their house and accompany their parents to the farm during the planting season, water the animals, go to the river, cook, wash and take care of their younger sister.

Being smart and outspoken has earned Lorna a role in her school. She is the sanitary prefect. She ensures that the school is clean at all times by supervising the picking of litter and washing of latrines. Through the class prefects and the dorm prefects, Lorna also ensures that all classrooms and dormitories are cleaned. However, she claims that lack of water hinders the smooth running of activities during manual work time. On several occasions, she adds, the pupils have been forced to skip cleaning or alternatively, go to the river early in the morning to get water.

"The water from the river is not safe," she says, "it sometimes looks brown in color and smells like cow dung since the community members water their animals from the same source," she adds. Lorna claims that fetching water with the community at the same time is not easy as there are long queues as community members wait for water; the pupils also have to wait. She says that this really interferes with their study time, as they stay too long at the river.

"Sometimes we have our meals late due to water not being available in time," she laments, "it even gets worse when some of the pupils are rushed to the hospital and are diagnosed with typhoid due to consumption of contaminated water." Sometimes the school has to send the sick pupils home for treatment and this severely affects their academics.

Lorna hopes and prays that the school finds a lasting solution to their water problem. If a well is drilled in the school, her work as the sanitary prefect will be made easier. It is Lorna’s desire that she and the rest of the pupils spend more time in their studies and co-curriculum activities instead of going to fetch water. "Clean and safe water will help curb cases of typhoid in our school and help us improve our hygiene status," says Lorna.


Navigating through intense dry spells, performing preventative maintenance, conducting quality repairs when needed and continuing to assist community leaders to manage water points are all normal parts of keeping projects sustainable. The Water Promise community supports ongoing sustainability programs that help Mahakini Preparatory School maintain access to safe, reliable water.

We’d love for you to join this world-changing group committed to sustainability.

The most impactful way to continue your support of Mahakini Preparatory School – and hundreds of other places just like this – is by joining our community of monthly givers.

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