Rehabilitation Project
The 814 students and staff of Shikoti Mixed Primary School face the dilemma of insufficient water to meet their daily needs. As a result, students spend a significant amount of time outside the classroom searching for and collecting water instead of learning.
"The school has one water point within the school, a protected dug well with [a] hand pump. During the dry seasons, the water reservoir goes low, rendering the pump unusable, thus delaying or interrupting classes. The waterpoint is seasonal, and due to the school's high population, pupils have to go [on] numerous trips out of school to get water," said our field officer Betty Muhongo.
The dug well serves them during the rainy season, but the rest of the year, it is dry, and students are forced to either find water in the community and haul it to school or leave class during the day to find water. Somedays, they have to do both since the little they can bring to school quickly runs out due to the school's large population.
"During the dry seasons, which often coincides with the more important exams of the year, is when most the pupils fall absent, and we have found that to be linked to getting water from their homes. It seems most of the pupils get water from the roadsides, which harms them in the long run, and sometimes some teachers. This has affected performance from the teachers to the students to the school in general," said 42-year-old teacher Phoebe Ingosi (seen above).
"The main waterpoint is seasonal [and] thus doesn't provide enough water for the school with its high population. Getting water from home has pupils bringing water from the nearest source, which sometimes means getting running surface water to avoid covering long distances to a clean water source," said Phoebe.
As Phoebe noted, the water students collect and bring to school is often from unknown sources, which is a sure way to put those who consume the water at risk of contracting water-related illnesses. When students or teachers are sick, everyone misses even more learning time, to the students' detriment.
"At times, we are requested to go and get water in between lessons, so we need to stay at school until late hours to compensate [for] the time used looking for water. To get clean water, you also have to rush to the pump as sometimes, when the water level is low, the water pumped out becomes dirty, and you can't drink it. You rush there to avoid the stampede and get back to class in time to avoid being punished for being late," said 12-year-old Joshua A., shown above, filling a drinking container.
Installing a well on the school campus will enable students like Joshua and teachers like Phoebe to be healthier and spend more time in school, which can then be used for learning.
Water at schools is unique, which is why we need unique solutions.
The Proposed Solution, Determined Together...
At The Water Project, everyone has a part in conversations and solutions. We operate in transparency, believing it benefits everyone. We expect reliability from one another as well as our water solutions. Everyone involved makes this possible through hard work and dedication.
In a joint discovery process, community members determine their most advantageous water solution alongside our technical experts. Read more specifics about this solution on the What We're Building tab of this project page. Then, community members lend their support by collecting needed construction materials (sometimes for months ahead of time!), providing labor alongside our artisans, sheltering and feeding the builders, and supplying additional resources.
Water Access for Everyone
This water project is one piece in a large puzzle. In Kenya, Sierra Leone, and Uganda, we're working toward complete coverage of reliable, maintained water sources that guarantee public access now and in the future within a 30-minute round trip for each community, household, school, and health center. One day, we hope to report that this has been achieved!
Training on Health, Hygiene & More
With the community's input, we've identified topics where training will increase positive health outcomes at personal, household, and community levels. We'll coordinate with them to find the best training date. Some examples of what we train communities on are:
- Improved hygiene, health, and sanitation habits
- Safe water handling, storage & treatment
- Disease prevention and proper handwashing
- Income-generation
- Community leadership, governance, & election of a water committee
- Operation and maintenance of the water point
Handwashing Stations
Alongside each water source, we also provide two new gravity-fed handwashing stations that will allow everyone at the school to wash their hands without running water. Handwashing is so important to help prevent future water-related illnesses in the school community.
The student health club will maintain the stations, fill them with water, and supply them with soap (which we will teach the school community how to make during the training!).
VIP Latrines
In addition, we will construct two triple-door Ventilated Improved Pit (VIP) latrine blocks designed to prevent fecal disease transmission. Each latrine will have a cement floor, which is easy to use and clean regularly. Three doors will serve the girls, and three doors will serve the boys.
We set up two handwashing stations outside the latrines and handed them over to the newly formed student health club. Health club members will teach other students how to wash their hands at the stations properly, fill the stations with water, and ensure that there is always a cleaning agent available.
