The 667 students and 39 staff at Ebwambwa Secondary School struggle to have sufficient water to meet their needs. The heavy responsibility of finding and collecting sufficient water is born almost exclusively by the students, who sacrifice their education in search of water.
"This situation of lack of enough water in school affects me. [I] am used to carrying water from home for drinking. The little water I carry, I have to share with friends, and just before noon time [I] am left thirsty with no drinking water," said 16-year-old Shirlin M., seen below.
Field officer Mildred Mboha shared that the school has a 30,000-liter rainwater harvesting tank, which is supported by a 5,000-liter capacity plastic tank, but the water points are overstretched by the growing school population. They can't keep up with the demand, especially during the dry season. During the rainy season, even if the tanks are filled to the brim, they can only serve the school for a maximum of two weeks.
"We overcrowd the tank with only one tap. The bell for class time could ring before even you get the water, and you have to go to the next lesson," said Shirlin.
Teachers do their best to monitor water collection, but the tanks still run dry far sooner than everyone hopes.
"We have to use maximum time for supervision of students when using water. This technique enables us to minimize wastage though we waste a lot of time," teacher Hussein Mulungo said (shown below).
When the tank runs dry, which it inevitably does, students must leave their school campus and cross a busy road to collect water from a well at a nearby school.
"As a teacher, [I] am not okay with the idea of students crossing the road during lunchtime to go to the primary section to get water, but we have no choice. As [a] teacher, I have to miss some classes in a month when students have gone to find water for cleaning or water was not available and led to delay in [the] cleaning of classes and latrines, especially on days when thorough cleanliness is done in school," continued Hussein.
Installing a well at the school will enable everyone to spend more time inside the classroom. Students will be able to spend their time learning instead of collecting water, and teachers will be able to do their jobs well to make the future brighter.
Water at schools is unique, which is why we need unique solutions.
The Proposed Solution, Determined Together...
At The Water Project, everyone has a part in conversations and solutions. We operate in transparency, believing it benefits everyone. We expect reliability from one another as well as our water solutions. Everyone involved makes this possible through hard work and dedication.
In a joint discovery process, community members determine their most advantageous water solution alongside our technical experts. Read more specifics about this solution on the What We're Building tab of this project page. Then, community members lend their support by collecting needed construction materials (sometimes for months ahead of time!), providing labor alongside our artisans, sheltering and feeding the builders, and supplying additional resources.
Water Access for Everyone
This water project is one piece in a large puzzle. In Kenya, Sierra Leone, and Uganda, we're working toward complete coverage of reliable, maintained water sources that guarantee public access now and in the future within a 30-minute round trip for each community, household, school, and health center. One day, we hope to report that this has been achieved!
Training on Health, Hygiene & More
With the community's input, we've identified topics where training will increase positive health outcomes at personal, household, and community levels. We'll coordinate with them to find the best training date. Some examples of what we train communities on are:
- Improved hygiene, health, and sanitation habits
- Safe water handling, storage & treatment
- Disease prevention and proper handwashing
- Income-generation
- Community leadership, governance, & election of a water committee
- Operation and maintenance of the water point
Handwashing Stations
Alongside each water source, we also provide two new gravity-fed handwashing stations that will allow everyone at the school to wash their hands without running water. Handwashing is so important to help prevent future water-related illnesses in the school community.
The student health club will maintain the stations, fill them with water, and supply them with soap (which we will teach the school community how to make during the training!).
VIP Latrines
In addition, we will construct two triple-door Ventilated Improved Pit (VIP) latrine blocks designed to prevent fecal disease transmission. Each latrine will have a cement floor, which is easy to use and clean regularly. Three doors will serve the girls, and three doors will serve the boys.