A Year Later: El'longo Secondary School

A year ago, your generous donation enabled us to construct a rainwater tank for El'longo 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 Janet Kayi with you.

Students have more time for their studies compared to before. When we first visited this school over a year ago, we met some students leaving school with their jerrycans to find water. It was a similar sight each time we visited before the completion of this project. But now when we enter the school, we see all of the students in their classrooms either with their teachers or on their own studying.

"Initially, the school had no access to safe drinking water. Now they do and they are enjoying it!" said sanitation teacher Margaret Esega.

Margaret Egesa drinks water from the tank

The school has greatly improved on hygiene practices. This is evident by all the handwashing facilities that are placed strategically so that students will wash their hands after visiting the toilets.

"We all wash our hands, which has now become a routine in our school," said 15 year-old-student Shanif Lung'ao.

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 El'longo Secondary School is changing many lives.

Margaret Egesa and Shanif Lung'ao

"The students have enough clean and safe water within the compound. Absenteeism among the students has greatly reduced as compared to previous years," Shanif added.

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.