A Year Later: Buhunyilu Primary School

A year ago, your generous donation enabled us to construct a rainwater tank for Buhunyilu Primary School in Kenya. The contributions of incredible monthly donors and others giving directly to The Water Promise allow our local teams to visit project sites throughout the year, strengthening relationships with communities and evaluating the water project over time. These consistent visits allow us to learn vital lessons and hear amazing stories – and we’re excited to share this one from local team member Karen Maruti with you.

Buhunyilu Primary School looks clean and neat as one enters the school compound. It is evident that the water project has attracted and will continue attracting more pupils from neighboring schools. This is because the school is now very student-friendly, allowing students to focus on their studies.

"The facilities have also improved the image of the school," Headteacher Gilbert Lichina told us during a recent visit.

Headteacher Gilbert Lichina

"Now the pupils have access to safe drinking water and cases of absenteeism have reduced as a result. On the other hand, they are saving the time previously wasted collecting water to study."

The new facilities are behind an increase in student enrollment from 285 students before the project to 365 today.

"On behalf of the Buhunyilu School community, we are very grateful to you," said Mr. Lichina.

The project is also making life easier for students like 12-year-old Rebeccah Migare. We spoke with her about the changes over the past year.

"In the past we used to go to the river and wasted a lot of time. The river is across the road and many times we feared being knocked down by the racing motorbikes," she said.

"Now that we have water in the school compound, we have enough time to study. I have confidence that we will perform better and be great leaders in the future. Thank you!"

Rebeccah Migare at the tank

Construction of the tank is only one step along the journey toward sustainable access to clean water. The Water Project is committed to consistent monitoring of each water source. Our monitoring and evaluation program, made possible by donors like you, allows us to maintain our relationships with communities by visiting up to 4 times each year to ensure that the water points are safe and reliable.

This is just one of the many ways that we monitor projects and communicate with you. Additionally, you can always check the functionality status and our project map to see how all of our water points are performing, based on our consistent monitoring data.

One project is just a drop in the bucket towards ending the global water crisis, but the ripple effects of this project are truly astounding. This project in Buhunyilu Primary School is changing many lives.

The school also has started an income generation activity selling sukuma wiki (kale) from its farm. At the time of our follow-up, they had just replanted the farm after harvesting and selling the crop over the prior six months. The money earned was used to purchase soap for handwashing and disinfectants for the latrines.

They had tried planting the vegetables before the project, but since the water was far and scarce, irrigation was an overwhelming task. This resulted in the crops often failing.

Thanks to reliable water nearby, they look forward to planting even more vegetables in future. These will be both used for the school lunch program and sold in the local market.

This is only possible because of the web of support and trust built between The Water Project, our local teams, the community, and you. We are excited to stay in touch with this community and support their journey with safe water.

Read more about The Water Promise and how you can help.