Kitumu Well Project
Project Snapshot
Country: Uganda
GPS Coordinates:
Latitude 1.771950
Longitude 31.837177
Impact:
Total Served: 300
Status: Completed (?)
Completion Date (or estimate): 12/16/2010
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The community of Kitumu sits in a picturesque section of Masindi district, Uganda. The village abuts the boundary of Murchison Falls national park and its beautiful scenery can be viewed from many points in Kitumu. Although the cultivated fields of local farmers indicate the beginning of human development in contrast to the protected landscape of the park, there is unfortunately very little which could be considered modern development in Kitumu. There is no health center, no electricity and no clean water. The area’s residents rely solely on what is locally available. In terms of water, people go to natural, open sources which form in the surrounding environs. The problem is that this water is often very dirty and contaminated with disease causing bacteria. The village chairman, John Byabasaija, succinctly describes the water situation in the community in his letter to Busoga Trust.
“We don’t have clean water for drinking and for domestic use”
The nearest source of clean water to Kitumu is a well built by Busoga Trust in another village, but it is roughly 3 – 4 kilometers away which is too great a distance for most people to travel. Therefore the residents of Kitumu must drink dirty water. Consuming the water from open sources is a recipe for ill health and causes the local population to continually suffer from water born diseases. Even simply bathing with dirty water can lead to skin diseases such as scabies or eye diseases like trachoma. Without clean water the people of Kitumu are destined to suffer from a host of preventable diseases.
On November 15, 2010 Busoga Trust began to construct a shallow hand dug well in Kitumu. Working in coordination with community members, Busoga Trust’s on-site technician oversaw the excavation and building of the well. The well was completed in early December and the pump installed on December 6 – since then the well has provided the people of Kitumu with access to clean, safe water source which will ensure better health for all who drink from it.
GPS Coordinates are approximate.
Project Photos
Sponsors
Country Details
Uganda
Population: 27 million
- Lacking clean water: 36%
- Below poverty line: 37%
- Climate: Tropical; generally rainy with 2 dry seasons
- Languages: English (official), Ganda or Luganda
- Ethnic Groups: Baganda 17%, Ankole 8%, Basoga 8%, Iteso 8%, Bakiga 7%, Langi 6%, Rwanda 6%, Bagisu 5%, Acholi 4%, Lugbara 4%, Batoro 3%, Bunyoro 3%, Alur 2%
- Life Expectancy: 53 years
- Infant Mortality Rate: 65 deaths per 1000 live births
Partner Profile
Busoga Trust America
Our Approach
Busoga Trust America partners with local non-governmental organizations
to carry out development projects in the developing world. Three
operating principals guide our approach: certainty of results, extreme
transparency and no overhead.
Certainty of results. In Masindi, we are working
with the premier water development group in the East Africa, Busoga
Trust. Their approach has been honed over 20 years through work on 1400
wells in Uganda and surrounding countries. Their experience, together
with the favorable geology of Masindi and stable political climate in
Uganda give us confidence that our work will have profound impact on
people’s lives in Masindi.
No Overhead: 100% of Busoga Trust America’s
overhead cost are covered by grants from its Founders. This means that
every dollar donated goes to Africa.
Transparency: Every donation, large or small, is linked to a specific project. Donors are notified which project their gift supports. Each project has a page on this web site that gives details about the village served by the new well, data on water quality and access before and after our intervention and photo and video documentation of our work and the new well. The idea is to provide to donors a window into exactly who thier donation helped and what it accomplished.
