A Year Later: Getting water is the easiest part of the day!

"Before the project, getting water was such an uphill task for me," said 10-year-old Shakrider when describing what life was like for her and other students before we installed a rain tank at her school last year. "This involved me carrying a ten-liter bottle from home full of water. By the time I arrived at school, I was already tired."

"Getting [water] was a very big challenge because this meant having to send pupils for water in order to have enough to be used around the school premises," said 47-year-old headteacher James Mugadia.

But now that the school has water readily available in its high-capacity rain tank, collecting water is no longer a burden on students.

"Now, getting water has ended up being the easiest and most interesting part of the day. The pupils just run to the tank and open the tap and draw water from there," said Mr. Mugadia.

"Now, all I have to do is run to the tank, open the tap, and fetch my water. Now, I no longer go to class in the morning tired like before," said Shakrider.

And thankfully, with students' energy reserved, they can now focus on learning.

"Now, I concentrate better in class. I no longer come to school tired with heavy baggage. I have improved in my studies too. My marks have greatly improved," Shakrider concluded.

"This water point has helped me achieve coverage of the syllabus. Before the construction of the water point, most times, we would have to send pupils even during class hours to get water. This affected how promptly I would finish the syllabus. But since construction, I have more time with the pupils," Mr. Mugadia concluded.

Headteacher Mr. Mugadia with pupils near their rain tank.