Rehabilitation Project
This project is a part of our shared program with Bridge Water Project. Our team is pleased to directly share the below report (edited for clarity, as needed).
BACKGROUND
The proposed St. Peter's Kapsean Primary School is a day mixed primary school started in the year 2000 by St. Peter’s Kapsean Church under the Catholic Diocese of Eldoret. The church had in view a mission to minister formal education to the children around the community. In this way, the church serves as a way of eradicating illiteracy and reduce poverty.
The school is still young with many challenges such as a lack of enough standard classrooms for the learners. However, lack of access to quality water is the major challenge since the school runs a lunch programme for the pupils and teachers. Currently, pupils to carry water from home whenever they come to school in the morning.
The quality of this water cannot be guaranteed since each individual pupil fetches water from unknown sources and in unclean containers. This poses a serious health hazard to both pupils and teachers.
CURRENT WATER SOURCE
Currently the pupils fetch water from Chepchur spring which is not protected and is 2km away from the school compound. The water from Chepchur spring records a turbidity value of 80, way below World Health Organization parameters of good water for human consumption. The women of Kapsean community fetch water using donkeys and sometimes sympathize with the pupils, volunteering to fetch for the school too so that pupils can concentrate in class.
POPULATION
The school records a total enrollment of 125 pupils; 60 boys and 65 girls, 8 teachers and 2 cooks a total of 135 people
HYGIENE & SANITATION
The school has super structure classrooms, which are swept daily in the morning before lessons begin, and 3 pit latrines (1 for boys, 1 for girls and 1 for teachers) which are washed three times per week.
There is a kitchen where lunch for pupils and teachers is prepared. There is no dish rack outside the kitchen but there is a compost pit where litter is dumped.
ASSESSING THE NEED
There is need to drill a borehole for St. Peters Kapsean primary school so as to relieve pupils from carrying water when they come to school every morning, and allow access to quality water.
A reliable water supply accompanied by hygiene and sanitation education training, as well as proper ways to store water, all will improve the overall health of the pupils. Pupils will also get to spend more time on their lessons and enhance their studies which will lead to improvement in academic performance.
PROJECT BENEFICIARIES
If the borehole is drilled, it will benefit St. Peters Kapsean primary school, the Catholic Church, and the entire Kapsean community.
MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
The school committee is organized and ready to take responsibility of the water point to ensure operational maintenance for the sustainability of their water supply point.
Bridge Water project community education staff will train the entire school on water sanitation and hygiene before the implementation of the proposed water project.
PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION
PHASE 1 DRILLING KAPSEAN PRIMARY SCHOOL WELL
The Bridge Water Project service team mobilized to the site for drilling. Despite the fact that teachers are on strike, this did not hinder the drilling work at Kapsean Primary school well.
The school had prepared to receive the team and therefore both the pupils in home clothes and teachers were present. Drilling work began the following day. The pupils and teachers of this school were amazed to see how the drilling machine was operated. To some, this was an unbelievable dream since they could not believe that finally water could be extracted from their own ground!
The loud sound produced by the drilling machine attracted many people from the surrounding community who came and witnessed the beginning of the journey of getting clean and safe water for the school.
The drilling of the well was done by mud drilling. The top red soil formation was seen up to 10 meters. The first aquifer was stricken at 12 meters to 16 meters. The red soil formation continued up to 20 meters where a hard rock was encountered. The well was then cased with the 6 inch PVC casings. A hammer was engaged to penetrate through the hard rock. The second aquifer was struck at 23 meters to 28 meters. After the casing was done, the well was gravel packed with the use of the fine gravel which would be used as the sieve for the water that recollects into the PVC pipes. Kapsean Primary School well was drilled to a total depth of 30 meters.
FLUSHING
The well was then cleaned, draining dirty water out by the use of an air compressor.
PHASE 2 WELL PAD CONSTRUCTIONS
The construction of the well pad begun immediately after the drilling of the well was complete. The community members who are also the parents of the students of this school participated in the work by providing local materials like sand and concrete and assisting in the construction work. The pupils were also engaged in bringing water for construction. The well pad was then left to cure for some days before the hand pump was installed.
PHASE 3 HYGIENE AND SANITATION TRAINING
Looking at the data collected during a baseline survey carried out in Kapsean primary school, all was not good in terms of hygiene and sanitation. The data showed that poor hand washing practice was done by pupils and teachers. To help the school change their negative attitude and gain a positive attitude towards good hygiene and sanitation practices, hygiene and sanitation training was conducted to the lower primary pupils and teachers.
The training was conducted in a classroom. The pupils participated fully throughout the training process. Several topics were dealt with during the training as follows:
1. Introduction
2. Problem identification.
3. Problem analysis.
4. Practicing good behavior.
As part of the topics that were dealt with, the introductory part was important for the pupils and the facilitator to get familiar. The introduction was done using an African puppet dolly which the pupils were excited about.
Every day stories were the next activity. The pupils had time to tell stories with the help of the pictures provided to them. They also discussed a role play showing how they play football and rope skipping in their school.
Lack of knowledge on hand washing and open defecation was discussed with help from their teachers. The pupils discussed the diseases that they are affected with when they fail to wash hands as well as when they defecate openly.
From the discussion it was clear that they don't practice proper hand washing with soap and water because they lack that knowledge. With the facilitators' guidance, they learned the importance of hand washing and the effects of open defecation.
From this, the facilitator shared with the pupils how some common hygiene diseases are transmitted that makes them sick. As the training went on, the children learned how to practice good behaviors in relation to hygiene and sanitation. They learned this through blocking the routes of germs, hand washing exercise, and latrine use.
To conclude the training, the pupils sang a song in relation to cleanliness in their own language.
PHASE 4 PUMP INSTALLATION AND HANDING OVER
Finally the borehole was fitted with an Affridev pump and handed over to the school. The Head teacher thanked everyone for helping them have access to clean and safe water. "I thank God for this dream that has finally come true and now that water is available at school, we promise to practice proper hygiene and sanitation. No more sending pupils to fetch water across the road. I hope with this availability of water in this school our academic performance will be well. May almighty God bless you all as you continue saving peoples life," said Madam Janet, the Head Teacher Kapsean Primary School.
