Drilling is going well at Mama Sukuma Project
Jun.10.2010The drilling process is proceeding well at the Mama Sukuma Women’s Group water project near Kakamega, Kenya. This well will serve the local community and a nearby health center.
Mama Sukuma Self Help Womens Group
Water Point
Borehole Well and Hand Pump
Girls and women walk long distances for water when safe water is very often right under their feet! Underground rivers, called aquifers, often contain a constant supply of safe water – but you have to get to it. No matter what machine or piece of equipment is used, all drilling is aiming for a borehole that reaches into an aquifer. If the aquifer has water - and after the well is developed - we are able to pull water to the surface utilizing a hand-pump. If all goes as planned, the community is left with a safe, closed water source providing around 5 gallons of water a minute through a hand-pump.
Rehabilitation Project
Rehabilitation is not just fixing a pump - it’s total community re-engagement.
There’s only one thing we can think of that might be worse than not having safe water: having safe water, and then losing if because a project fell into disrepair.
It’s estimated 50% of projects in Sub-Saharan Africa are no longer functional. A majority of these projects are dug wells and boreholes with hand pumps. Though a hand pump is low-tech, cost-effective and a great solution for providing safe water - it’s also among the most susceptible to failure.
When working in a region, The Water Project seeks to provide adequate water coverage for communities across the region. Inevitably, we find dug well and boreholes projects installed, and then abandoned by other organizations and government contracts. We believe there is great value in building on what already exists - what is already present in a community - even if what’s exists is not working. After all, this broken well represents a significant investment from the past and repairing it shows a community our investment in them.
Rehabilitation often proves to be a big challenge, as many wells have sit idle for years and there is typically little information about the specifics of the well. A borehole and dug well rehabilitation involves quite a bit of discovery. First, our teams work to discover as much as they can about the initial project. What materials were used? Was the borehole/hand-dug well properly constructed? What is the static water level and well yield? Are there any known sources of contamination? Many of these questions can only be answered by diving in, and doing “the work” which makes up a rehabilitation.
Once our teams have found the problem, they find the solution. Then, they reconstruct a concrete apron around the well, and install a hand pump.
Program engagement and training with communities takes into account rehabilitation was needed and alters the program to suit the needs of the community. After all - engaging with this community in the same way which led to the initial, failed project will not bring new results. Our teams work to understand the social and support reasons leading to initial failure, and make those areas a focus of our ongoing engagement with communities.
Project Features
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Community Engagement
Community engagement is at every step of a water project.
Our engagement is rooted in relationship and includes involving the community in implementation and ongoing support, setting expectations for water point management and ongoing costs, etc. All of this happens before a water project is installed.
We use a term called ABCD: “Asset Based Community Development”. This means the community gets a leading seat at the table. Before we seek to bring anything into the community, we first seek to understand and utilize the assets that already exist within the community.
Hygiene and Sanitation Training
Community education and self-discovery about hygiene and sanitation concepts lead to improved health.
Improved health is always the goal. This is why all our projects include hygiene and sanitation training. We utilize many different methods for this training, depending on the community/institution, program and country. Training topics include disease transmission, personal hygiene and cleanliness, proper disposal of waste and proper water storage methods.
Monitoring and Resolution
Water isn’t a pump. Water is a service. And, it must be reliable.
The known benefits of water are ONLY true if water can be counted on, over time. We love celebrating when a project is complete and a community has access to clean, safe water. However, the ongoing service of water - making water reliable - is how we know our true impact.
The Water Project continues to monitor our water projects, and we provide continued support to make sure water service continues for communities.
Past water projects and the communities they serve are just as important to us as anything else we might be doing in the future.
To learn more about how you can help with ongoing monitoring, evaluation and resolution, read about our awesome monthly members.
Impact:
500 Served
Project Status:
Installed
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Stories and Community Profile
This new well project serves a community of nearly 800 people in the Kakamega area of Western Kenya.
The project is led by and also serves the Mama Sukuma Self Help Women’s group.
Their former water source was a muddy, seasonal and contaminated stream over 4km away (seen below). It took nearly two hours every day, just to collect water from this unsafe source.
That has all changed.
Our implementer in the field filed this report on July 12, 2010 about the day they handed over the project. (unedited)
“Bridge Water Project Officers visit was when the community had some funeral around and this did not allow for meetings with many community members as you can see from the picture, however from Mama Sukuma Chair lady [held] brief discussions with BWP officers, it was apparent that availability of this hand pump scheme within the hospital grounds has enhanced a great impact on the health and well being of the patients in the hospital and local community.She also added that this well has contributed to the availability of enough water to the maternity rooms in the hospital, it has also resulted to the construction of the hospital kitchen (seen below), saved time for the local community members to do other things in their areas of operations i.e planting of sukuma wiki, dairy farming, bricks making which has become manageable through the provision of this clean and safe drinking water within hospital grounds. In her conclusion she was very thankful to The Water Project for providing them with this basic tool and that they should continue having the same spirit of helping people who have no voice and they are in need of clean and safe drinking water.”
As you can see, access to clean, safe water can do much more then providing a drink – as critical as that is. Food security, improved health care and even increased construction of better shelter becomes possible.
Water transforms communities.
Project Photos
WaSH Training at Mama Sukuma Womens Group
May.13.2010
Our implementing team recently spent the day with the community and staff of the Mama Sukuma Self Help Group in Western Kenya. In a few weeks, this community will be receiving their new well. To prepare them for this and to ensure the impact of the project is as great as possible, WaSH training (Water Sanitation and Hygiene) is carried out.
Here is the unedited report from our partner…
The chairlady of the group among others were there to receive us as they were really happy to get information and later get clean water which they have been eagerly waiting for long. They together appreciated the efforts Bridge water is doing to make communities get clean water so that they can concentrate on other development issues respectively. After the education as a group they agreed to pass on this information to the other community members beginning with their family members
They felt by getting water close they have more time for other projects they are involved in, when there is drought they will be able to use the water for irrigation especially planting of vegetables. The general acceptance of education is high in all communities and its something we will continue doing to make people make informed choices over their Hygiene and sanitation in relation to the clean water that Bridge water project is providing. May we live to continue to support more communities with the right information and clean water.
Monitoring Data
Project Type: Borehole Well and Hand Pump
Location: Elusheya Sub-location, Mumias District
ProjectID: 407
Install Date: 05/31/2010
Monitoring Data
Water Point: Functional
Last Visit: 03/02/2018
Visit History:
10/09/2012 — Functional
06/03/2015 — Functional
11/18/2015 — Functional
02/25/2016 — Functional
12/08/2016 — Functional
02/22/2017 — Functional
03/21/2017 — Functional
04/13/2017 — Functional
07/26/2017 — Functional
03/02/2018 — Functional
Sponsors
48 individual donors
Japanese Weekend School
First United Methodist Church - Albany
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Country Details
Kenya
- Population: 39.8 Million
- Lacking clean water: 43%
- Below poverty line: 50%
Partner Profile
Bridge Water Project has been funded by The Water Project almost since they got their start in 2007. This local Kenyan NGO works directly with the communities and neighbors they know well. Building relationships with these villages and the local government helps ensure that the water projects we fund are sustainable in the long term.
BWP works to repair up to four wells for every new one they install. In this area of Kenya, many old and broken down water points still exist. We have found that restoring these water points and establishing new plans for maintenance and monitoring, is quite cost effective.
We work closely with partners like BWP to strengthen their teams, through professional development growing their impact and quality of work over time. Your donations make it all possible.