A Year Later: Elande Village

A year ago, generous donors helped build a spring protection and sanitation platforms with the community of Elande Village in Western Kenya. Because of these gifts and contributions from our monthly donors, partners can visit project sites throughout the year, strengthening relationships with communities and evaluating the actual water project. These consistent visits allow us to learn vital lessons and hear amazing stories – we’re excited to share this one from our partner, Joan Were, with you.

It was great to see both adults and children practicing the ten steps of hand washing after visiting the toilet and before meals. This change can be attributed to the WaSH training that was conducted in the community last year when the spring was protected.

Farmer Shikuku Thomas shared, “Before the spring was protected, it used to grow algae every two weeks. Consumption of that water led to many cases of fever, typhoid and diarrhea. The unprotected spring was also exposed to frogs and snakes which would scare people from fetching water. Since the spring was protected, the rate of water borne diseases has reduced. Our women now spend very little time at the spring because they used to wait for water to clear up after every scoop. We are very happy with our protected spring. The only challenge is keeping watch of naughty children who sneak to the spring to do their laundry.”

“Now, with the water coming through a pipe, we are sure that we are consuming clean water,” 13-year-old Jevis Shikuku added.

We will urge the Community Health Volunteers to keep on making home visits and encourage the homesteads with cows to collect the cow dung in a pit, cover it with dry grass and use it as manure. We will urge the Community Health Volunteers to keep on making home visits and encourage the homesteads to practice good hygiene.

The Water Project and our partners are committed to consistent monitoring of each water source. Our monitoring and evaluation program, made possible by monthly donors, allows us to visit communities up to 4 times a year. Read more about our program and how you can help.