A Year Later: Well-Kept Spring Frees Up Time for Play!

Before Shihome Community's spring was protected last year, fetching water was a harrowing ordeal that ate up a lot of community members' time every day. Because the water was coming from multiple sources and was not channeled anywhere, water would often run down the sides of the spring instead of through the community's improvised discharge pipe.

"We used to get dirty at the spring because it was not constructed," explained eight-year-old Gracious K. "Also, we were consuming a lot of time while fetching water because the pipe was small and a lot of water was coming from the side ways."

Nowadays, water filters through the spring's box and out the discharge pipe, making things so much easier.

"Now, the spring is well kept and constructed, which makes it easy to access, and we do not waste time as before," Gracious continued. "I now help my parents [by] fetching water faster and enough for our use. Also, I have enough time to play with my friends after house chores."

Gracious fills a jerrycan at the protected spring.