Rehabilitation Project
In the Museesu Community, 400 people struggle daily to meet their water needs. Most commonly, people collect water from faraway scoop holes, which take a three-hour walk to reach. The hole dug down into a sandy, dry river bed can only provide a limited amount of water, so people jostle for the opportunity to be first. Sadly, all of this effort is to collect water that is bound to make them sick.
Scoop hole.
Field Officer Alex Koech shared, "The community spends a lot of time and energy fetching water, which could be used to improve their lives through farming or looking for employment opportunities."
Consuming the water collected often causes people to suffer from typhoid, amoeba, and dysentery. These are costly illnesses that impede their ability to work or go to school and force them to spend precious resources on hospitalizations and medication.
12-year-old Ann has experienced the water crisis for too long. It has robbed her of her health, put her behind in school, and damaged her morale.
Ann.
"I get very sick several times during the year because we mostly depend on water from scoop holes. I felt very bad because I could only lie down in bed as I continued with my treatment. I have to stay at home as I take my medication and resume classes when I get better," Ann shared.
The hardship doesn't cease when she regains her health. Every day, she makes the long journey for water, the very water that is likely to make her bed-bound again. It is incredibly frustrating and makes progress in her daily life nearly impossible.
"We receive very little rainfall in our area, and it feels bad that we have to live in such adverse conditions. I spend a lot of time fetching water, and I return home feeling exhausted and unable to focus on my classes," Ann added.
The difficult landscape makes the journey feel even longer.
Implementing a well in the Museesu Community is the first step to creating a world where Ann can enjoy her childhood and chase her dreams with a good education, unencumbered by water-related illness.
"When I grow up, I want to be a doctor," she shared.
Ann (right) at the distant well, getting ready to carry that water container all the way home.
"The proposed water point will help provide enough water for farming and improving their livelihoods through the sale of crops. The protected shallow well will also be free from animal and wind contamination, thus offering clean water to the residents that does not expose them to maladies like typhoid, amoeba, dysentery, and stomach upsets. Residents will have more time and energy to conduct farming and other income-generating activities," concluded Alex.
Solving the water crisis in this community will require a multifaceted system that will work together to create a sustainable water source that will serve this community for years to come.
Note: Our proposed water point can only serve 300 people per day. We are working with the community to identify other water solutions that will ensure everyone has access to safe and reliable drinking water.
Steps Toward a Solution
Our technical experts worked with the local community to identify the most effective solution to their water crisis. Together, they decided to construct a dug well and sand dam.
Dug Well Near A Sand Dam
Once a sand dam is installed and has time to mature by gathering sand and silt, groundwater increases significantly in the entire area surrounding the project. This provides a reliable source of groundwater that wasn’t possible before. As a result, wells can be constructed to take advantage of the water stored and filtered in the collected sand.
During construction, we build a platform for the well and attach a hand pump. The community gains a safe, enclosed water source capable of providing approximately five gallons of water per minute.
This dug-well will be connected to a sand dam to obtain water.
Community Education & Ownership
Hygiene and sanitation training are integral to our water projects. Training is tailored to each community's specific needs and includes key topics such as proper water handling, improved hygiene practices, disease transmission prevention, and care of the new water point. Safe water and improved hygiene habits foster a healthier future for everyone in the community. Encouraged and supported by the guidance of our team, a water user committee representative of the community's diverse members assumes responsibility for maintaining the water point, often gathering fees to ensure its upkeep.
