Project Status



Project Type:  Rainwater Catchment

Regional Program: Western Kenya WaSH Program

Impact: 316 Served

Project Phase:  In Service - May 2018

Functionality Status:  Functional

Last Checkup: 03/26/2024

Project Features


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Community Profile

Muyere Secondary School currently has 300 students of which 182 are girls and 118 are boys. It has a total of 11 teaching staff and 5 support staff.

A normal school day begins extremely early in the morning at 6am. They're required to be there for morning study halls before normal classes begin at 8am. Most students are sent out for lunch so they can find food at home or at a market. After afternoon classes, all of the students fetch water together.

Water

There's no water at the school. The closest source is a spring that's about 400 meters away. Though totally open and contaminated, the school and surrounding community rely on this source for their drinking, cooking, and cleaning needs.

To minimize the trips students have to take the spring, the headteacher has hired support staff that do this throughout the day.

The deputy headteacher reported that one of his students has been out of school with typhoid since the last term. Her parents have spent a lot of money on treatment, yet the girl has not recovered.

Sanitation

The boys have three latrines that they share with primary students, while the girls have six latrines that were donated by the county. The boys' latrines are not in good working condition and are still being used even though the pits are practically full. Long lines form during class breaks, and many students can't wait and must seek privacy outside somewhere (most often behind other school buildings).

There is one hand-washing station available, but it never has soap and is often missing water too.

What we can do about it:

Hygiene and Sanitation Training

Training will be held for two days. The facilitator will use PHAST (participatory hygiene and sanitation transformation), ABCD (asset-based community development), CTC (child to child), lectures, group discussions, and handouts to teach health topics and ways to promote good practices within the school. The CTC method will prepare students to lead other students into healthy habits, as well as kickstart a CTC club for the school.

Handwashing Stations

The CTC club will oversee the new facilities, such as hand-washing stations, and make sure they are kept clean and in working condition. The two hand-washing stations will be delivered to the school, and the club will fill them with water on a daily basis and make sure there is always a cleaning agent such as soap or ash.

VIP Latrines

Two triple-door latrines will be constructed with local materials that the school will help gather. It will be up to the school to divide these six latrine doors between the students to make both boys and girls comfortable. And with a new source of water on school grounds, students and staff should have enough to keep these new latrines clean.

Rainwater Catchment Tank

A 50,000-liter rainwater catchment tank will help alleviate the water crisis at this school. The school will also help gather the needed materials such as sand, rocks, and water from the spring for mixing cement. Once finished, this tank can begin catching rainfall that will be used by the school’s students and staff. They will no longer have to rely on dirty surface water!

We and the school strongly believe that with this assistance, standards will significantly improve. These higher standards will translate to better academic performance!


This project is a part of our shared program with Western Water And Sanitation Forum (WEWASAFO). Our team is pleased to provide the reports for this project (edited for readability) thanks to the hard work of our friends in Kenya.

Project Updates


September, 2019: Giving Update: Muyere Secondary School

A year ago, your generous donation helped Muyere Secondary School in Kenya access clean water.

There’s an incredible community of monthly donors who have come alongside you in supporting clean water at Muyere Secondary School. Month after month, their giving supports ongoing sustainability programs that help this school maintain access to safe, reliable water. Read more…




May, 2018: Muyere Secondary School Project Complete

Muyere Secondary School in Kenya now has a new source of safe, clean water thanks to your generous donation. A new rainwater catchment system has been built, and there are now six new latrines in use. Two hand-washing stations were installed, and students received training in sanitation and hygiene.

New Knowledge

Attendance for hygiene and sanitation certainly wasn't as expected! When planning with the Deputy Principal Wala, we communicated that we only needed 15 student leaders to form a child to child (CTC) health club. Mr. Wala decided that we should train everyone in form one so that they'll have four years to share their knowledge with peers.

We squeezed into a classroom that was a bit too small for us, but students were still there early and eager to learn.

Students received notebooks and pens to record everything they learned.

A number of topics were covered, including: Personal hygiene such as bathing, oral hygiene, and handwashing with soap as a barrier from germs. Operation and maintenance of the new facilities were also covered, with each person understanding their role for long-lasting clean water and good health. The new CTC club will be greatly involved in project management and will be responsible for encouraging good health and hygiene practices amongst their peers, teachers, and the larger community.

The school compound and its classrooms were cleaned, as well as the older latrines. Handwashing facilities were equipped with water and placed in strategic locations for students to frequently access. We are excited to see how this new information continues to take hold at Muyere Secondary School!

VIP Latrines

This project funded the installation of six new ventilated improved pit (VIP) latrines. All of these latrines are easy to use and clean. And with a rainwater catchment tank, there should be enough water to keep them clean all the time.

Handwashing Stations

The two handwashing stations were delivered to the school and handed over to the CTC club. These were placed outside of the boys’ and girls’ latrines to encourage handwashing after latrine use. CTC club members teach other students how to properly wash their hands at the stations, and make sure there is always soap or ash available. Now the school has the stations they need, and they have the water to fill them.

Rainwater Catchment Tank

Construction for this 50,000-liter rainwater catchment tank was successful!

Parents, staff, and students helped our artisans gather everything needed for construction. All the while, women cooked meals for the artisans, and the school provided accommodations for the artisans during their work. Local men and women helped our artisans with their manual labor, too.

Community members working together to clear the area meant for the tank.

The process officially began with our staff and school administration looking around the school compound to try and determine the best location for a new rainwater catchment tank. This needed to be the best site with good, clean roofing to catch the rainwater.

Then, we cleared the site: excavating the soil within the required measurements to make level ground for the tank foundation. The foundation was cast by laying hardcore on a level ground and then reinforcing it using steel, concrete and waterproof cement.

Both the drawing pipe as well as the washout pipe were affixed as the foundation was lain. The wall was built with ferro-cement techniques through six layers. The inner wall was plastered while rough casting was done on the outer part. Finally, the catchment area was dug, plastered, and a staircase installed.

Dome construction could begin after the superstructure had been given enough time to settle. The manhole cover was fitted, inlet pipes were connected to the roof gutters, inlet screens, ventilation pipes (breathers) and overflow pipes were all done to standards.

Once finished, the tank was given three to four weeks to undergo complete curing before it was cleaned and handed over to Muyere Secondary School, though we will continue to offer them unmatchable support as a part of our monitoring and maintenance program.

There were smiles all around as students and staff witnessed water coming from the tap for the first time!

"We thank God for the support given to us as a school to get a rainwater harvesting thank that will help us store water for use," Teacher Phiona Akinyi said.




March, 2018: Muyere Secondary School Project Underway

Muyere Secondary School in Kenya has begun building a new source of safe, clean water because of your generous donation. A rainwater catchment tank and new latrines are being constructed, hand-washing stations provided, and the school is being trained on proper sanitation and hygiene practices. Get to know this school through stories, pictures, and maps on our project page. We look forward to reaching out with more good news soon!




Project Photos


Project Type

For a rainwater collection system, we build gutters around a building with good, clean roofing to channel rain where we want it. From there, the water falls through a filtered inlet pipe into a high-capacity storage tank, the size of which is based on population and average rainfall patterns. In the tank, water can be stored for months, where it is easily treated and accessed. Learn more here!


Giving Update: Muyere Secondary School

September, 2019

A year ago, your generous donation helped Muyere Secondary School in Kenya access clean water – creating a life-changing moment for Alvine Kakai. Thank you!

Keeping The Water Promise

There's an incredible community of monthly donors who have come alongside you in supporting clean water in Muyere Secondary School.

This giving community supports ongoing sustainability programs that help Muyere Secondary School maintain access to safe, reliable water. Together, they keep The Water Promise.

We’re confident you'll love joining this world-changing group committed to sustainability!

Initially, Muyere Secondary School had no reliable source of water, but ever since the installation of their rain tank last year, a lot has changed.

Students and staff at Muyere Secondary are now accessing safe, clean water from a known source within their premises. There has been a reduction of water-related diseases, hence health standards have been improved. Problems on sanitation have been dealt with by the construction of the 6 VIP latrines, which have helped reduce congestion as well as time wasted by students queuing to access the facilities.

Generally, hygiene is properly maintained as evidenced by the school's clean compound, classrooms, and students themselves. The environment is very tidy with flowers planted throughout the compound, trees along the fence, and grass growing across the grounds. All of these changes have happened thanks to the availability of the WaSH projects at the school as well as the hygiene training that was done at the school during the implementation of the project.

"The biggest changes in this school have been happening ranging from enrollment to hygiene," said the school's Welfare Chair Mr. Bernard Isavwa.

Mr. Bernard Isavwa at the rain tank

"Ever since the project was done, we as a school have felt a very sharp increase in the number of students joining this school, for now we have a population of around 678 students not including teachers and subordinate staff. Our school compound and classrooms look very clean due to the training that was done on proper hygiene practices conducted during the [health club] training at the school. Availability of a water source within the school compound is also another great change to us, [as] we used to hire laborers to bring water to the school which was very costly to the school."

Alvine gets a drink from the rain tank

One student, 18-year-old Alvine Kakai, shared his story about how the WaSH projects have affected his education at Muyere Secondary School for the better.

Students at the rain tank

"Since last year, I have been able to consume safe water from the tank, wash my hands with soap using the handwashing stations...also use safe latrines which have reduced hygiene-related diseases in our school. I concentrate more in class and spend most of my time in studies hoping to do very well in my final exams this year."


Navigating through intense dry spells, performing preventative maintenance, conducting quality repairs when needed and continuing to assist community leaders to manage water points are all normal parts of keeping projects sustainable. The Water Promise community supports ongoing sustainability programs that help Muyere Secondary School maintain access to safe, reliable water.

We’d love for you to join this world-changing group committed to sustainability.

The most impactful way to continue your support of Muyere Secondary School – and hundreds of other places just like this – is by joining our community of monthly givers.

Your monthly giving will help provide clean water, every month... keeping The Water Promise.


Contributors

1 individual donor(s)