A Year Later: Spare Time and Money Lead to Brighter Futures!

Before Makale Community's spring was protected last year, so much of the community members' time was wasted dealing with water.

"It was hard to get water from this water point because scooping it using small containers could make [the] water dirty easily," said nine-year-old Sakine R.

"Water fetched by children like me was not trusted for drinking by our parents," Sakine continued. "We only used to be fetching water for other household chores and not for drinking because the process of fetching water for drinking was to be [done] so carefully and it was mostly done very early in the morning."

Another community member, Juma Reinson, a 54-year-old farmer, echoed this sentiment.

"Getting water from this water point before was very difficult because we used to carry small containers for scooping water to fill in the bigger containers," Juma explained.

"The process itself was tiresome and time-consuming. Moreso, after reaching home, you had to sieve water in order to remove solid sediments collected together with water and other contaminants like green algae. Generally, [the] water itself was not safe for human consumption, but because we had no other source [or] finances to improve this water point, we had to use water fetched from the water point, though with a lot of challenges."

But now, those worries are a thing of the past. All community members need to do is set their jerrycans beneath the spring's discharge pipe, bring the water home, and drink or use it as they see fit.

"Right now, it is very easy to fetch water here," Sakine said. "Water fetched by children [is] trusted by anyone for drinking because water is now safer, unlike before construction. My life has changed because [I] am no longer a victim of water-related diseases."

Now, Sakine's future is looking both healthier and brighter.

"Since [the] implementation of this water point, my parents have not been missing [paying] us any money needed in school, like for remedials (extra classes) [or] for assessment tests," Sakine said. "This has been because of accessing clean water, hence [my] parents reducing [their] wastage of resources [in] seeking medications for us."

And life has become easier for Juma, too.

"The water point has helped me achieve a lot of things," Juma said.

"Since [the] construction of this water point, I can save [a] little amount of money from my day-to-day work, unlike before when most of my resources [were] going [toward] foodstuffs and treating waterborne ailments."

"Besides that, the water point has helped me generate more income through selling tree seedlings, [which was] achieved through [the] availability of water from this water point for watering even during [the] dry spells. Also currently, I don't waste much of my time taking my cows to drink water in a distant stream."