A Year Later: Shitungu Community, Charles Amala Spring

A year ago, your generous donation enabled us to protect Charles Amala Spring for Shitungu Community in Kenya. The contributions of incredible monthly donors and others giving directly to The Water Promise allow our local 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 local team member Karen Maruti with you.

Between the clean water and good sanitation and hygiene practices here,  this community has achieved a lot in the past year. The clean water has led to reduced diarrheal diseases.

"In the past, we used to draw dirty water that had small bacteria and particles. After protection, the water is clean and we have no more waterborne diseases," said Enock Amala.

"Everyone loves this water as it's very clean and when we drink, we are very happy."

Eugine Amala and Enock Amala

Sanitation platforms, on the other hand, have acted as models in this community. More people have established sanitation facilities such as dish racks, compost pits, clotheslines, and bathrooms. As we walked through the village, some handwashing facilities were there too.

All these changes are linked to the accessibility to safe water and the accompanying hygiene training.

Protection of the 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 Shitungu is changing many lives.

"Drawing water in the past was tedious and time-consuming, but now it is so easy and fast," 12-year-old Eugine Amala said.

Eugine Amala

"Now I have enough time play!"

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.