Project Status



Project Type:  Protected Spring

Regional Program: Western Kenya WaSH Program

Impact: 420 Served

Project Phase:  In Service - Aug 2018

Functionality Status:  Water Flowing - Needs Attention

Last Checkup: 01/09/2024

Project Features


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Community Profile

It is the women who wake up earliest in the morning to prepare for the day. They prepare their children for school before starting other chores like collecting firewood, washing clothes, sweeping, farming and fetching water from the unprotected spring.

Most people in the community are involved in farming. They grow maize, beans, ground nuts, vegetables, bananas, sweet potatoes, sugarcane and cassava. They also keep cattle, sheep and goats. Men are involved in making bricks to sell to the numerous construction projects going on nearby.

Some people have small retail shops from where other community members buy their household items. The people living in this community profess either Islam or Christianity.

Water

It takes people about 30 minutes to get to the spring. On some occasions, there are so many people already there waiting to draw water. This means that the women spend a number of hours between getting to and waiting at the water source. What's worse is that all this effort and time is spent just for dirty water, since there's no alternative in the area.

When a person first arrives at the spring, they use a small container to scrape the surface, removing all algae and other floating debris. Once it appears clearer, they'll use their small bowls to fill their larger jerrycans.

The village elder and people themselves recounted constant struggles with water and hygiene-related illnesses. Mrs. Farida Salim said, "Since I was born, this spring has served many people. However, it has also been neglected for a long time, for not much has been done to protect the water. You have come at the right time. The day our water is protected will be one of the happiest days of my life."

Sanitation

Less than half of households have their own pit latrines made of mud and old rusty iron sheets. A few households have set up the same kind of iron sheets to form a bathing shelter. None, however, have a dedicated place to wash hands after using the latrine or before eating a meal. Very few people use dish racks and clotheslines, with the rest letting their items dry out on the dirty ground.

Here's what we're going to do about it:

Training

Community members will attend hygiene and sanitation training for at least two days. This training will ensure participants have the knowledge they need about healthy practices and their importance. The facilitator plans to use PHAST (Participatory Hygiene and Sanitation Transformation), CLTS (Community-Led Total Sanitation), ABCD (Asset-Based Community Development), group discussions, handouts, and demonstrations at the spring. One of the most important topics we plan to cover is the handling, storage, and treatment of water. Having a clean water source will be extremely helpful, but it is useless if water gets contaminated by the time it’s consumed. Hand-washing will also be a big topic.

Training will also result in the formation of a committee that will oversee operations and maintenance at the spring. They will enforce proper behavior around the spring and delegate tasks that will help preserve the site, such as building a fence and digging proper drainage. The fence will keep out destructive animals, and the drainage will keep the area’s mosquito population at a minimum.

Sanitation Platforms

On the final day of training, participants will select five families that should benefit from new latrine floors.

Training will also inform the community and selected families on what they need to contribute to make this project a success. They must mobilize locally available materials, such as bricks, clean sand, hardcore, and ballast. The five families chosen for sanitation platforms must prepare by sinking a pit for the sanitation platforms to be placed over. All community members must work together to make sure that accommodations and food are always provided for the work teams.

Spring Protection

Protecting the spring will ensure that the water is safe, adequate and secure. Construction will keep surface runoff and other contaminants out of the water. With the community’s high involvement in the process, there should be a good sense of responsibility and ownership for the new clean water source.

Fetching water is predominantly a female role, done by both women and young girls. Protecting the spring and offering training and support will therefore help empower the female members of the community by giving them more time and efforts to engage and invest in income-generating activities.


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 (formatted and edited for readability) thanks to the hard work of our friends in Kenya.

Project Updates


June, 2020: COVID-19 Prevention Training Update at Masera Community, Salim Hassan Spring

Our teams are working on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic. Join us in our fight against the virus while maintaining access to clean, reliable water.

Trainer Shigali explains prevention reminders chart

We are carrying out awareness and prevention trainings on the virus in every community we serve. Very often, our teams are the first (and only) to bring news and information of the virus to rural communities like Masera, Kenya.

We trained more than 18 people on the symptoms, transmission routes, and prevention of COVID-19. Due to public gathering concerns, we worked with trusted community leaders to gather a select group of community members who would then relay the information learned to the rest of their family and friends.

How to build a tippy tap demonstration

We covered essential hygiene lessons:

- Demonstrations on how to build a simple handwashing station

- Proper handwashing technique

- The importance of using soap and clean water for handwashing

- Cleaning and disinfecting commonly touched surfaces including at the water point.

Practicing handwashing steps

We covered COVID-19-specific guidance in line with national and international standards:

- Information on the symptoms and transmission routes of COVID-19

- What social distancing is and how to practice it

- How to cough into an elbow

- Alternative ways to greet people without handshakes, fist bumps, etc.

- How to make and properly wear a facemask.

Handwashing demonstration

During training, we installed a new handwashing station with soap near the community’s water point, along with a sign with reminders of what we covered.

Due to the rampant spread of misinformation about COVID-19, we also dedicated time to a question and answer session to help debunk rumors about the disease and provide extra information where needed.

Homemade face mask tutorial

We continue to stay in touch with this community as the pandemic progresses. We want to ensure their water point remains functional and their community stays informed about the virus.

Handwashing

Water access, sanitation, and hygiene are at the crux of disease prevention. You can directly support our work on the frontlines of COVID-19 prevention in all of the communities we serve while maintaining their access to safe, clean, and reliable water.




September, 2019: Giving Update: Masera Community, Salim Hassan Spring

A year ago, your generous donation helped Masera Community in Kenya access clean water.

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




July, 2018: Masera Community Spring Protected!

Masera Community now has clean water! Salim Hassan Spring has been transformed into a flowing source of clean water thanks to your donation. The spring is protected from contamination, five sanitation platforms have been provided for the community, and training has been done on sanitation and hygiene.

New Knowledge

The owner of the land, Mrs. Farida Salim, was instrumental in mobilizing the community members for hygiene and sanitation training. She was also our main contact person between the field officer and the entire community. The participants were recruited mainly from the households that draw water from the protected spring.

Training attendees

The number of community members who turned out for the training was below our expectations. The expected number was around 20 participants, but just 12 people came. The low turnout could have been because of the prevailing farming season where most community members were either on their own farms or working on other people's farms for payment.

Community members listen during training

We covered several topics including leadership and governance; operation and maintenance of the spring; healthcare; family planning; immunizations; the spread of disease and prevention. We also covered water treatment methods, personal care like handwashing, environmental hygiene, hygiene promotion, and many other things.

Handwashing demonstration

The participants were excited and actively participated during the training sessions. They were receptive to the new knowledge on water and sanitation. They acknowledged that there are many things concerning personal hygiene that they never knew or had taken for granted. They appreciated the fact that the training would help them raise standards in Masera.

Sanitation Platforms

All five sanitation platforms have been installed. These five families are happy about this milestone of having a private latrine of their own and are optimistic that people will no longer leave waste outdoors. We are continuing to encourage families to finish building walls and roofs over their new latrine floors.

Spring Protection

Community members provided all locally available construction materials, e.g bricks, wheelbarrows of clean sand, wheelbarrows of ballast, fencing poles and gravel. Men and women lent their time and strength to assist the artisan with manual labor. Accommodations and meals were provided for the artisan, too.

A man breaks up rocks into smaller stones for the artisan to use in construction.

The spring area was excavated to create space for setting the foundation of polyethylene, wire mesh and concrete. After the base had been set, both wing walls and the headwall were set in place using brickwork. The discharge pipe was fixed low in place through the headwall to direct the water from the reservoir to the drawing area.

Community members look on as the artisan makes final touches to the spring protection.

As the wing walls and headwall were curing, the stairs were set and ceramic tiles were fixed directly below the discharge pipe. This protects the concrete from the erosive force of the falling water and beautifies the spring. The process of plastering the headwall and wing walls on both sides reinforces the brickwork and prevents water from the reservoir from seeping through the walls and allows pressure to build in the collection box to push water up through the discharge pipe.

The source area was filled up with clean stones and sand and covered with a polyethylene membrane to eliminate any potential sources of contamination. It took about two weeks of patience for the concrete to dry.

The community members held a meeting to mark the completion and commissioning of the protected spring. The event was marked with prayer and thanksgiving.

"From now on, the community can access clean, safe and secure water," an elated Mr. Derrick Musalia, a member of the community and beneficiary to the protected spring, explained.




April, 2018: Masera Community Project Underway

Dirty water from Salim Hassan Spring is making people in Masera Community sick. Thanks to your generosity, we’re working to install a clean water point and much more.

Get to know this community through the narrative and pictures we’ve posted, and read about this water, sanitation and hygiene project. We look forward to reaching out with more good news!




Project Photos


Project Type

Springs are water sources that come from deep underground, where the water is filtered through natural layers until it is clean enough to drink. Once the water pushes through the surface of the Earth, however, outside elements like waste and runoff can contaminate the water quickly. We protect spring sources from contamination with a simple waterproof cement structure surrounding layers of clay, stone, and soil. This construction channels the spring’s water through a discharge pipe, making water collection easier, faster, and cleaner. Each spring protection also includes a chlorine dispenser at the waterpoint so community members can be assured that the water they are drinking is entirely safe. Learn more here!


Giving Update: Masera Community, Salim Hassan Spring

September, 2019

A year ago, your generous donation helped Masera Community in Kenya access clean water – creating a life-changing moment for Agatious Likami. Thank you!

Keeping The Water Promise

There's an incredible community of monthly donors who have come alongside you in supporting clean water in Masera Community, Salim Hassan Spring.

This giving community supports ongoing sustainability programs that help Masera Community, Salim Hassan Spring 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!

Before Salim Hassan Spring was protected, it contained only contaminated water, made dirty as a result of dirty runoff and people doing laundry and bathing near the water source. A year after the protection of the spring and hygiene and sanitation training, many changes have taken place in Masera.

These include the level of cleanliness around the spring area, and also reduced incidences of disease outbreak among community members. Access to clean and safe water has been enhanced. This means the protected spring has contributed toward improved quality of life for the people of Masera.

"There is [an] improvement of cleanliness at the spring because the community has embraced the protected spring. The water flow is reliable, [and] the community members now draw clean and safe water from the protected spring," said Farida Hassan, a local shopkeeper in Masera and family of the landowner to the spring.

We also met 16-year-old Agatious Likami at the spring, who along with his family depends on Salim Hassan Spring for their daily water needs.

"Water from the protected spring is used for washing, cleaning, bathing, cooking and drinking. The water from the protected spring is clean and safe. Access to water has been made easier. After the protection of the spring, more time and effort is spent on other economic activities. In addition, incidences of disease outbreak have reduced in this community."

Beatrice Ngota, Agatious, and Field Officer Mary Afandi


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 Masera Community, Salim Hassan Spring 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 Masera Community, Salim Hassan Spring – 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

MuslimsForPeace
North Dunedin Baptist Church
Bruce Hayes #997571901001
ArtiKen
In honor of Ella C. for her birthday!
25 individual donor(s)