A Year Later: Bumuyange Secondary School

A year ago, generous donors helped build a rainwater catchment tank and latrines for the Bumuyange Secondary School in Western Kenya. The contributions of incredible monthly donors and others giving directly to The Water Promise allow 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 – we’re excited to share this one from our partner, Jonathan Mutai, with you.

Stepping into Bumuyange Secondary School, you are welcomed by a clean environment. Corridors and classrooms are very clean, indicating that the hygiene education imparted to students is still in practice. They are so happy to have their own pit latrines on school grounds as opposed to the situation before when they used to share with the primary section.

"Construction of the water tank and pit latrines has made everything at close proximity to us. This has enabled us to attend morning and evening preps with ease, because we no longer have to go and fetch water from the stream for cleaning in the morning or cross over to primary section to re-leaved ourselves, something that used to waist a lot of our precious study time," Boyphine Andege, a 19 year-old student, said.

"More so, the handwashing facilities in the school have improved hygiene because we do wash our hands after visiting the toilet."

Scolastica Luvusi

The school greatly appreciate the efforts of The Water Project together with WEWASAFO not only for safe and clean water beside good sanitation facilities in the school but also for making them minimize time wastage. The tank is in a good working condition and the environment looks clean a year later.

Installation of the water tank and latrines is only one step along the journey toward sustainable access to clean water. The Water Project and WEWASAFO (our trusted local partner) are 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 at Bumuyange Secondary School is changing many lives.

"We are happy because our students are no longer sharing pit latrines with the primary school kids as it was before," Mr. Geoffrey Anaya, the Director of Studies, said.

"Also, the time that students used to waste in fetching water from the nearby stream is now spent on their studies. As a result of the improved facilities, the student population increased by 39 students in the past year."

This is only possible because of the web of support and trust built between The Water Project, WEWASAFO, 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.