Rehabilitation Project
This information was provided by our partner IcFEM
Mwitha Primary School, Sikhendu
Sikhendu sits on the slopes of Mount Elgon, accessed via mud roads off the main potholed tarmac road from Kitale to Webuye. From Sikhendu there are amazing views over this area of Western Kenya, surrounded by different varieties of trees and even the occasional field of sunflowers in season. Sikhendu borders the areas of Kamukuywa and Naitiri, and is not far from Kiminini.
Like the biblical land of Canaan, the word Mwitha means “the land of milk”, and the area is fertile and good for growing a variety of crops. Located in Machewa location of the larger Trans-Nzoia West District, the village is within a largely agricultural area with large areas of land producing maize, wheat, cabbages and tomatoes.
However, a teething problem continues to bother the people of this area – a lack of safe drinking water. The only stream (Bondeni Water Spring) is located one kilometer away from the school and pupils are forced to ferry water from their homes for use in the school. This water is unsafe for human consumption considering the fact that it comes from various untreated sources, yet is commonly used due to the lack of alternative options.
According to Joyceline Murugi, a teacher at Mwitha Primary who also resides in the school compound, the community depends on rain water which is not reliable especially during the dry season, and very few households or institutions have rainwater collection systems.
Joyceline says that the proposed water borehole project which is to be constructed on the school site cannot come at a better time. It will assist at least 570 pupils in the school as well as the surrounding people including Mwitha market which has failed to pick up due to the perennial water problem.
The borehole will also reduce the distance covered to get water from the spring, reduce dependence on rain water and help in the building of the school where some of the classrooms are in a dilapidated state.
