A Year Later: "Girls feel comfortable in school"

Life for students at Masoila Roman Catholic Primary School used to consist of spending inordinate amounts of time collecting water from a source off their school campus because the nearby well needed to be rehabilitated. As a result, students were exhausted and missed valuable learning time.

"We were not having sufficient, safe water for drinking and hygiene practices, especially the girls [who] were finding it difficult to take care of ourselves. We were missing classes to go and fetch water," said 12-year-old Sunkarie K.

But when the nearby well was rehabilitated last year, water became readily available. Things turned around for everyone, but especially for the girls at the school like Sunkarie, who now feel more at ease.

"Now we [are] having sufficient, safe water for drinking and hygiene practices. As for us, the girls, we are now feeling comfortable. We miss no classes to go and search for water," shared Sunkarie.

"We are now having good hygiene practices, and we can now be in classes from the start to the end of [our] school session," concluded Sunkarie.

Sunkarie standing outside the rehabilitated well.