A Year Later: Bumira Secondary School

A year ago, your generous donation enabled us to construct a rainwater catchment tank for Bumira Secondary 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.

Since the project's implementation, there have been immense changes within Bumira Secondary School. As you enter the gate, you are greeted with a tidy compound and classrooms. The smiling faces of the learners also say it all.

A student fetches water

The project has not only improved their health but now they have enough time to study. All this change is attributed to increased access to safe drinking water, toilets, sanitation knowledge, and handwashing facilities provided by the project.

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 tank in Bumira Secondary School is changing many lives.

We spoke with Principal Rocken Ilahalwa and 15-year-old student Elizabeth Koome during a recent visit to the school. They described the ways that the school has improved over the past year.

Elizabeth Koome

"I am so amazed about this project and how it has made it so easy to clean our classrooms and toilets," Elizabeth said.

"We had no water in the past and this precious commodity that was so hard to get was seen as too important to be wasted on washing hands. Now, we can wash our hands after using our new latrines."

The school population grew from 222 students at the time of the project's completion to more than 300 today. Principal Ilahalwa attributes the project to this growth. The school's image in the community has vastly improved, he said. It also helps that students spend less time fetching water.

"Initially we had no source of water and students used to be sent to the stream to get water," he told us.

Elizabeth Koome and Principal Rocken Ilahalwa

"It was contaminated, resulting in outbreaks of diarrheal diseases and students wasted a lot of time in the process. Now with the project, we have enough water to clean up, students are healthier, and they no longer waste time fetching water."

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.