A Year Later: Chandolo Primary School

A year ago, your generous donation enabled us to construct a rainwater tank for Chandolo 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 Lillian Achieng with you.

Chandolo Primary School should be a role model for other schools in the area. They have done an amazing job maintaining their new facilities for the past year. The school's attitude towards development has become more positive.

The school recently purchased an additional cow because the one they had started producing more milk than ever thanks to the drinking water available from the tank. The milk is then used for the students, which is helping improve their health.

"Availability of water in school has enabled the smooth running of the feeding program. The cooks have an easy time of accessing water for cooking and even doing the dishes for both the pupils and teachers," Headmaster Bernard Madafu explained to us.

"We have clean and safe drinking water in our school now."

Bernard Madafu, Field Officer Lillian Achieng, and Brillian Lwane

This is evidenced by the way they have protected the drawing point with a hatch and lock to prevent tampering. They also went ahead and built an additional eight latrines to accompany the six that were constructed as a part of the water 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 project in Chandolo Primary School is changing many lives.

"We no longer waste time going to the spring to get water. At the spring that is meant for the community, the pupils would conflict with the community members, but that doesn't happen anymore since we have water in school," explained 13-year-old student Brillian Lwane.

"Now, we can comfortably spend time on our morning studies that used to be wasted with fetching water."

Brillian Lwane

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.