A Year Later: Emarembwa Community

A year ago, generous donors helped protect Nyangweso Spring for Emarembwa Community in 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 – and we’re excited to share this one from Betty Muhongo Majani with you.

We realized that life for community members has really improved during our interviews.

The water source is no longer contaminated, as was the case before. Women and children now draw water with ease from the discharge pipe. As we passed through some homes, we noticed sanitation facilities like dishracks, clotheslines, and compost pits are now being used.

The community members have shown a great improvement. We also saw sanitation facilities put in place and children washing their hands after using the toilet. This clearly indicates that they took seriously what they learned during sanitation and hygiene training.

"We now have clean and safe water for consumption. This has improved my academic performance since I no longer miss class lessons due to health issues that were caused by drinking dirty water from the unprotected spring," 13-year-old Irene Murunga said.

Protection of this spring 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 spring in Emarembwa is changing many lives.

Celinia Makomere and her children stand at the spring

"Protection of this spring has saved time. A lot of time for the women and children was wasted waiting for the water to clear before fetching," Celinia Makomere said to us.

"At the moment, community members take the shortest time possible to fetch water. We no longer wait in lines and for water to settle before filling our containers."

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.