October, 2018: A Year Later: Bushevo Community

A year ago, generous donors helped protect David Enani Spring for Bushevo Community in Kenya. The contributions of incredible monthly donors and others giving directly to The Water Promise allow teams to visit project sites throughout the year, strengthening relationships with communities and evaluating the water project over time. These consistent visits allow us to learn vital lessons and hear amazing stories. Read more...

October, 2017: Bushevo Community Project Complete

David Enani Spring in Bushevo Community, Kenya is now a protected, clean source of water thanks to your donation. The spring is protected from contamination, five sanitation platforms have been provided for the community, and training has been given in sanitation and hygiene. Imagine the changes that all of these resources are going to bring for these residents! You made it happen!  Now, want to do a bit more? Join our team of monthly donors and help us maintain this spring protection and many other projects.

We just updated the project page with the latest pictures, so make sure to check them out! And please enjoy the rest of the report from our partner in Kenya:

Project Result: New Knowledge

We started planning hygiene and sanitation training with the community as soon as the project was approved. Community members elected their neighbors with strong leadership abilities to form a water user committee to be in charge of water, sanitation and hygiene in Bushevo. Since there would be a strong focus on water hygiene and spring management and maintenance, committee members opted to be trained right at the spring site. These new committee members also encouraged the rest of the community to attend training, too!

As we approached the spring site on the first day of training, we were surprised to find a small group already waiting there - considering that it was a cold and rainy day! Participants were almost giddy when it came to learning about ways to improve their everyday lives; they'd break out in laughter, song, and dance throughout each session. Since spring protection was already complete by the time we met for training, people couldn't hide their excitement for having clean water so close to home.

Training participants were given notebooks and pencils to record all of the new things they learned.

Training topics included but were not limited to 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, environmental hygiene, and hygiene promotion. The community should refrain from washing clothes, watering animals, farming with fertilizers, and open defecation in the vicinity.

Group discussions were very effective in helping participants take responsibility for what they were learning. And since we were at the spring, we could easily show the group how to manage and maintain their new clean water point. We demonstrated the ten steps to properly washing hands and allowed everyone a chance to practice.

The most important topic for this community was open defecation. We found it to be a big issue here, and we wanted to let participants know how greatly it's endangering their community. Even if we're able to give people clean water at the spring, dirty containers, dirty hands, and dirty environments can make water unsafe by the time someone drinks it. Everyone needs to have and use even a simple pit latrine, and they need to have a place to wash their hands after. Thus, we taught participants how to build a latrine and hand-washing station with all local and affordable materials.

Immediately after the training, we witnessed the ladies teaching the others who hadn't attended. Some women were using open containers to fetch water from the spring, but the more informed women told them about how the clean water in an open container probably won't be clean by the time it gets home!

Mrs. Janepher Musundi is a 45-year-old mother who attended training and admits she learned a lot. "For most of us, accessing safe and clean water was a dream. Sanitation and hygiene, on the other hand, was ignored partly due to ignorance. Now I have learnt that even a child's feces are harmful and should be disposed of in the latrine. Who would have imagined that, as we daily leave babies' feces all over around the homestead, unaware of the contamination routes. This training has opened my eyes and I want to be a champion of hygiene," she shared.

Project Result: Sanitation Platforms

All five sanitation platforms have been installed and are ready for use. These five families are happy about this milestone and are optimistic that there will be much less open defecation. People without proper latrines would often use the privacy of bushes, but now have a private place of their own. It is expected that proper use of latrine facilities provided by the sanitation platforms will go a long way in reducing environmental pollution here. We are continuing to encourage families to finish building walls and roofs over their new latrine floors.

Mr. Benny Akinda couldn't hide his joy when he found out his family would receive a latrine. In Bushevo Community, it is an abomination for a wife to share a latrine with her father-in-law; but that's just what Benny's wife had to do. She felt such extreme disapproval that she would never even venture near the latrine in the daylight - she would have to sneak to use it in the middle of the night. If she really had to use the bathroom in the middle of the day, she had no other choice but open defecation. Now, Benny's family no longer has to share with their in-laws - they have their own latrine to use!

Project Result: Spring Protection

Community members provided all locally available construction materials, e.g bricks, wheelbarrows of clean sand, wheelbarrows of ballast, fencing poles and hard core (crushed rock and gravel). They rushed to do this as soon as they learned their spring was approved for construction. Men braved the cold water at a local river and stepped right in to harvest sand from the riverbed. The women carried this sand to our artisan at the construction site. Accommodation and food for the artisan were provided and a few people volunteered their services as laborers.

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

As the wing walls and head wall were curing, the stairs were set and the tiles were fixed directly below the discharge pipe. This reduces the erosive force of the falling water and beautifies the spring. The process of plastering the head wall 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.  Lastly, the base of the spring was plastered and the collection box was cleaned. The source area was filled up with clean hardcore and covered with a polythene membrane to eliminate any potential sources of contamination. Finally, grass was planted and cutoff drains dug to direct surface water away from the spring box.

This process has transformed David Enani Spring into a clean water source.

The only challenge along the way was that our professional artisan had to return home to care for a sick child. After a week, his child got better and he could return to complete the job.

It was incredible to see how this water affected the mood in this community. Our artisan had to divert the water while he worked on the spring box, packing it with sand, gravel, and stones. Anxiety covered peoples' faces as they looked on and no longer saw water flowing. But within 30 minutes, clean water began gushing out the discharge pipe and relief and excitement flooded in. Women sang the song "Vindu Vichechanga," which has a message of hope that things really can change for the better.

"Who could have imagined that one day our water spring would be protected," said Mama Janepher. "We are so happy that we shall draw water from a protected spring like others, and we are so proud and will ensure that no one interferes with it."

September, 2017: Bushevo Community Project Underway

Bushevo Community will soon have a clean, safe source of water thanks to your donation. Community members have been drinking contaminated water from David Enani Spring, and often suffer from waterborne diseases. Our partner conducted a survey of the area and deemed it necessary to protect the spring, build new sanitation platforms (safe, easy-to-clean concrete floors for latrines), and conduct sanitation and hygiene training. Thanks to your generosity, waterborne disease will no longer be a challenge for the families drinking the spring’s water. We look forward to sharing more details with you as they come! But for now, please take some time to check out the report containing community information, pictures, and maps.