A Year Later: Safety and Dignity for Girls!

Before we installed a rain tank at Mahola Mixed Secondary School last year, students would have to leave school grounds on a regular basis to fetch water from dubious sources. This sent them out of class while fetching water and kept them out of class when they inevitably got sick from drinking it.

"I can say without shame it was so tiresome, especially for us young ones or lower classes," said 15-year-old student Margaret. "We did all the heavy lifting on water. We used to go for water from a nearby stream if the well dried up. Sometimes, we could even go during our break time, hence [you had] no time for grabbing something for your stomach."

But now that the school has its own high-capacity rain tank within the school campus, all those difficulties are over.

"Getting water is so much easier," Margaret said. "First of all, the water point is located in the school compound, and that's safer since [the] majority of the water points we depended on were in bushes, and for us girls, we could not go alone. We had to go in a group for safety. Now, we are safe and have plenty of water."

One of the biggest things for Margaret has been maintaining her menstrual hygiene, which is a huge factor in girls' education during their teen years.

"Me, as a lady, I can [clean myself] during my monthly days," Margaret said. "I don't go home during breaks because [my home] is far [away]. Now, with water, I can go back to class feeling comfortable."

Margaret, second from the left, laughs with other girls as they rinse their lunch bowls using the tank's water.