Project Status



Project Type:  Protected Spring

Regional Program: Western Kenya WaSH Program

Impact: 200 Served

Project Phase:  In Service - Aug 2016

Functionality Status:  Functional

Last Checkup: 08/08/2024

Project Features


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Community Profile

This project is a part of our shared program with Western Water and Sanitation Forum (WEWASAFO). Our team is pleased to directly share the below report (edited for clarity, as needed).

Welcome to the Community

This unprotected spring is located in Givunji Village, Kivagala sub-location, North Maragoli location, Sabatia Sub-County of Vihiga County. It serves 30 households with a total population of 200 people, out of which 70 are male and 130 are female. During the dry seasons, it also serves the students and staff of the nearby school, Kivagala Primary.

Most who live around Kavehere Spring wake up very early to start working on their farms. Most farmers in this area grow tea so that they can sell the leaves to the nearby Mudete Tea Factory. Community members who do not practice agriculture engage in brick-making. This is a very united community that looks forward to working together on this water project.

The community that uses Kavehere Spring witnessed the water project recently completed at Mido Spring, and asked us to protect their water source as well. After our first visit to Givunji Village and Kavehere Spring, we accepted their application, deciding that this group will greatly benefit from a project.

Water Situation

The spring is a permanent water source. Even though the spring is not yet protected, people are looking to it for their physical and domestic needs. Since the spring is unprotected, it is open to contamination from surface runoff, erosion, animals, and waste. The area around the spring is also overgrown, and a few people have been scared by and even bitten by snakes! Even though locals face danger from both the water itself and the area around, they still fetch the spring’s water. This is because the nearest alternative water source is more than seven kilometers away! "We are aware that this water is not safe, even this environment is not safe, but we have no option because Mido Spring is very far from here. Going there will waste much of our time, yet we have to toil to put food on the table at the end of the day and also send our children to school, we cannot waste one and a half hours going to the spring!" explains the spring's landowner. Instead, locals do their best to save time but often sacrifice their health, suffering from diarrhea and other complications.

Beneficiaries use gourds to draw water from the spring and fill larger buckets and jerrycans. They tote these containers home and dump water into earthen pots – pottery tends to keep the water cooler. Containers are wiped with tree leaves and sand, then rinsed to clean.

Sanitation Situation

Sanitation and hygiene is also a challenge in this community. Most homes are overgrown with grasses and bushes, and residents often complain of mosquito bites. In other homes, mosquito nets are being used to fence gardens to keep chickens away from vegetables, instead of being used to prevent malaria! Only a few homes have latrines, with the rest of the families using the privacy of bushes or shade of trees for relief. The families that have pit latrines keep them relatively clean, but the pits are uncovered. This creates both a smelly and inviting environment for flies! Local mason and father Jacob Andati told us "We are situated far from any health facility. We have many cases of stomach distress, most of which are dealt with locally. The community members will appreciate your input in terms of water, sanitation and hygiene facilities."

Plans: Hygiene and Sanitation Training and Sanitation Platforms

Community members will attend hygiene and sanitation training for at least three days. This training will ensure participants are no longer ignorant 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. On the final day of training, participants will select five families that should benefit from new latrines that have sanitation platforms (concrete pit latrine floors).

Based on the initial visit, the facilitator decided to focus on the following training topics:

  • Proper handling and treatment of water and food
  • Dangers of open defecation
  • Protecting, preserving, and managing community water sources
  • Practicing personal and environmental hygiene

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

Plans: Spring Protection

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 with and invest in income-generating activities.

In addition, 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. The sanitation facilities and trainings will also enable, enlighten and build the capacity of the community so that they can take matters into their own hands.

Project Updates


July, 2020: COVID-19 Prevention Training Update at Givunji Community, Kavehere 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.

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 Givunji, Kenya.

We trained more than 15 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.




November, 2017: A Year Later: Kavehere Spring

A year ago, generous donors helped build a spring protection system and sanitation platforms for families living around Kavehere Spring. Because of these gifts and our monthly donors, partners are able to visit project sites throughout the year, strengthening relationships with communities and evaluating the actual water project. These consistent visits allow us to learn vital lessons and hear amazing stories – we’re excited to share this one with you.




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!


A Year Later: Kavehere Spring

October, 2017

“Drawing water from this spring takes a very short time, unlike the former frustrations of having to bend down and dip a mug or gourd to reach a dirty pool of water. Things have changed for the better, and we celebrate it.”

Keeping The Water Promise

There's an incredible community of monthly donors who have come alongside you in supporting clean water in Givunji Community.

This giving community supports ongoing sustainability programs that help Givunji Community 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!

A year ago, generous donors helped build a spring protection system and sanitation platforms for families living around Kavehere Spring. Because of these gifts and our monthly donors, partners are able to visit project sites throughout the year, strengthening relationships with communities and evaluating the actual water project. These consistent visits allow us to learn vital lessons and hear amazing stories – we’re excited to share this one with you.

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The women and children relying on clean water from Kavehere Spring had so much to say when we visited them that we'll let them do the talking, not us.

4571 YAR 1

We met with Vivian Andata, who said, "We can now send our children to the spring without any worry of the fact that they may bring home stormwater collected from any pool. When they are sent, they take a very short time because of the efficient way of harnessing the spring water through the discharge pipe. As a mother, I am also very confident that the water used in my home is safe for drinking and conducive both for cooking food and laundry work. Besides, we no longer have cases of stomach distress that we use to suffer upon drinking the spring water. The community members who got sanitation platforms are now living a more decent life -compared to when they practiced open defecation."

We also met 10-year-old Vugusta Doreen fetching water from Kavehere Spring, asking her about the biggest change in her life since the project last year:

"We are so happy of the fact that the water we drink will not cause us any stomachaches as it used to affect us before its protection. Coming to draw water from a tiled spring brings joy and motivates us to keep coming here whenever our parents ask us to do so. The spring area is clean and safe even for young children because we don’t fear of anything bad happening to us. Drawing water from this spring takes a very short time, unlike the former frustrations of having to bend down and dip a mug or gourd to reach a dirty pool of water. Things have changed for the better, and we celebrate it. Every day after school, we rush to collect water for washing our school uniform so that we remain neat every day at school!"

4571 YAR 4

The Water Project and our partners are committed to consistent monitoring of each water source. Our monitoring and evaluation program, made possible by monthly donors, allows us to visit communities up to four times a year. Read more about our program and how you can help.


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 Givunji Community 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 Givunji Community – 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

Project Underwriter - WebFX