Rehabilitation Project
This project is part of Bridge Water Project's program in Western Kenya. What follows is direct from them:
A. BACKGROUND
The proposed Surungai Primary is a mixed day school sponsored by African Inland Church (A.I.C). It was started in 1927. It was the First Outreach School that was started by the First Missionaries that came to Kenya. Since the community did not know the value of Education by then, there was poor enrollment that forced the school to close down in 1965 and the few pupils were taken to Tulwo Primary School.
The Missionaries embarked on the sensitization of the community on the importance of education to children that drove up the demand of education. Local communities now understood the need of education and population growth had also played a part in driving up demand for school and the school was re-opened in 1977 with improved enrollment rates. The Ministry of Education had to come in to support these efforts and apart from Education they were not involved in other development issues of the school.
The school has been in existence since then to date and there main challenge has been lack of water among other issues. They decided to approach BWP to see whether they can salvage them on this matter of life, which is Water for their pupils, and community of Surungai at large to have access to quality and safe water.
B. CURRENT WATER SOURCE
The pupils currently get water from Tuiyobei stream, which is located 11/2 km from the school. The Stream is open thus prone to all sorts of contamination. The community members also water their animals directly from the same water source. The water is not clear and has a turbidity value of 80, which is way below 5 the required WHO (World Health Organization) requirements. The stream dries up during dry season forcing the pupils to go to another stream called Kapchonge 2km away. “There has been recurrent cases of Typhoid, coughing and Diarrhea, says the Head teacher, “and has caused unnecessary absenteeism from the pupils leading to poor performance”. There is a 2000 litres upvc Tank that is used to harvest rain water but is not even enough for the population of the school. During the time of BWP’s visit, there was no drop of water at all in the tank since it had not rained in this area.
C. POPULATION
The school has a population of 342 pupils of which 167 are boys and 175 girls. The E.C.D (Early Child Development) has 62 kids. The school has 14 Teachers 6 males and 8 females and 2 support staff. There is an A.I.C church in the school compound that has 100 church members of which 70 are women and 30 men who form part of the community members and parents of Surungai Primary School.
D. HYGIENE AND SANITATION
The schools sanitation is poor due to the fact that there are no hand washing stations in school and so the pupils are not able to wash their hands. The school has 6 toilets for girls and 6 for boys currently. Previously due to the soil formation, 12 toilets had collapsed forcing the school to sink the current ones. The number of toilets verses the pupils is not enough as per the World Health Service standards; so there is need for 2 more toilets especially for boys and girls.
i) Hand washing practice
The pie chart below shows the different times when the pupils practice hand washing and their percentages.
The lack of hand washing stations was an indicator that the pupils did not practice hand washing at all times.
ii) What respondents use for hand washing
68.75% of the respondents agreed to using soap for hand washing.
PROJECT BENEFICIARIES
If the well is drilled, it will greatly benefit the pupils, teachers and the entire Surungai community members who are yearning for clean and safe water.
ASSESSING THE NEED
There’s need to drill a borehole for Surungai Primary School water projects so that the pupils can have access to quality and clean water since the current water source is not safe for human consumption and the distance to the source is far.
The pupils and the entire community members also need to get trained on proper hygiene and sanitation practices.
WATER COMMITTEE
The school management has already come up with a water committee that will see the proper running of the project once it is implemented. It comprises of the school parents, community members and members from the church.
