Karambi Secondary School, Rwanda

Project Snapshot

Country: Rwanda

GPS Coordinates:
  Latitude -2.223950
  Longitude 29.556533

Impact:
  Total Served: 785

Status:  Completed (What's This?)

Completion Date (or estimate): 12/11/2012

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Upon completion of the project, our partner in the field reports...

LWI Rwanda's Sustainability Coordinator, Philip Rukamba, and the leader of the Karambi Secondary School with 785 students chose this site. Members of the school board were also present. This site was picked because Living Water visited the site and discovered students needing water, without any access to clean water nearby. The previous water was really dirty and could not have been helpful to the students. Their uniforms were getting stained due to the dirty water, and they were getting water-related, preventable diseases. Because of this, their education suffered. LWI and the local leaders therefore decided to help this school with their water problem. The management of the school and the students are so happy to have clean water. They are full of gratitude towards the people providing water and they are also thankful to God who has so richly provided for them. The water engineer of the district, as well as leadership at the sector and cell levels consulted in siting this well and picking this community. The school board will take leadership in caring for and managing the site and the well. The discussions between Philip and the school management agreed on a way to manage the well. The leaders will be upgrading the well from a hand pump to an electric submersible pump. The school and the students will also benefit from managing the well. The community signed an MOU with LWI, outlining their commitment for well management and upgrading the well with locally raised funding. The person who is responsible for this project's sustainability made a plan for how the community will be able to sustain the well. The chairman, secretary, and treasurer committed to overseeing how the students and community should contribute money in case the hand pump breaks. They will then be able to buy the spares to repair it. Karambi Secondary School is so thankful to God for the provision of this well. They are praising God for the people who are committed to developing Rwanda and helping the Rwandan schools. Because of this well, they have life and health, and they are so grateful.

The LWI Rwanda team had an opportunity to meet with forty-two year old community member and teacher, Nyina Wumuntu, who stated, "Here we are getting clean water nearby compared to the old source which was dirty and coming from far away. So it was hard because collecting it took much of our time and made it difficult to study our books. This new water source is helping us in a huge way."

During the hygiene education, the LWI Rwanda team addresses: Hand washing, how to properly transport and store water, disease transmission and prevention, how to maintain proper care of the pump, as well as signs and symptoms of dehydration and how to make Oral Rehydration Solution. All of these lessons are taught in a participatory method to help community members discover ways to improve their hygiene and sanitation choices, and implement community driven solutions.

Project Photos

Recent Project Updates

12/11/2012: Karambi Secondary School Project Complete!

We are excited to report that the Karambi Secondary School in Rwanda now has a new source for safe, clean water.  We just posted a report from the field including information about the community, GPS coordinates, and pictures.