A Year Later: Making Bricks and Building Homes!

Before we protected Akinda Spring in Makunga Community, the spring was constantly muddy and the water was cloudy with dirt.

"We used to get dirty at the spring because the place was too muddy," explained 13-year-old Phoebe M. "It was hard to access the spring during [the] rainy season because it was slippery and dangerous."

"We had a lot of water, as you can see, but accessibility was hard and time-wasting," explained farmer Everline Enock." Also, we believe that [the] water was dirty. We could not drink from it directly because it was open, and so this led us to walk long distances in search of drinking water."

Mincing through mud and walking far away to find clean water used to waste a lot of the community members' time, as Everline said. But now that the spring has been protected, people can collect water much more easily.

"Now, we no longer walk far distances in search of drinking water, but get it directly from our spring," Everline said. "Also we can now manage to sort [out] other issues at home on time, unlike before."

"With the use of stairs, accessing the water point has been made easy and safe," Phoebe said. "Also, we can draw water any time we want without fear of getting dirty or fall[ing]."

The new water has provided more than just added energy and free time. They've recognized opportunities to capitalize on the easy source of water in order to improve things in their households.

"Just recently at our home, we built a new house using this water, and it was easy to access it," Phoebe said. "Secondly, I normally help my mother to water vegetables in the farm using this water."

"[In] this area, [the] majority of us like making bricks for sale, and we have been using this water to make them," Everline said. "Also, the water helps in watering our land this dry season."

With more secure housing, income sources, and food security, life in Makunga is improving every day.

Everline with some community kids at the spring.