Project Status



Project Type:  Dug Well and Hand Pump

Regional Program: Southeastern Kenya WaSH Program

Impact: 342 Served

Project Phase:  In Service - Dec 2016

Functionality Status:  Functional

Last Checkup: 08/22/2024

Project Features


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Community Profile

This project is a part of our shared program with Africa Sand Dam Foundation. Our team is pleased to directly share the below report (edited for clarity, as needed).

Welcome to the Community

This area is high in the Mbooni Hills, well-known for its production of vegetables. However, the hilly and rocky terrain is a disadvantage to farmers who rely on farming as their main source of income. The Kithuani Self-Help Group was formed in 2014 with the purpose of supporting farmers and their family in the community. The group started with a total membership of 24 farmers. They had the following reasons for group formation:

- Provide a financial support system for farmers.

- Address the water problem: From July to September, this area suffers a severe water shortage. The group aims to build sand dams to solve this issue.

- Conserve the environment: The farmers work together to build terraces and plant more trees to prevent soil erosion.

As the group realized all the work to be done in their area, they requested the help of ASDF. Kithuani Self-Help Group is now in their second year of partnership, and has already completed one sand dam and hand-dug well in the area.

The Mbooni Hills area has a total population of 342, all of who are expected to benefit from a new sand dam.

Water Situation

Water has been a perennial challenge for this community. Before the Kithuani Self-Help Group built their first sand dam, it took at least one hour to walk to the nearest water source. Once there, long lines delayed children and women longer. Since then, the group has received support in building their first sand dam. This greatly reduced pressure at the water source, but more work still needs to be done. The first sand dam is still over one kilometer from some of the villagers, and so a water source is planned further along the river. This second sand dam will bring water close to that other part of the community. It will also alleviate the huge strain observed at the first sand dam.

A hand-dug well was also constructed adjacent to the first sand dam, giving people a simple and safe way to access water. Women are primarily responsible for fetching water. They carry 20-liter jerrycans either transported on a donkey or on their own backs. Once delivered home, water is dumped into larger 100 to 300-liter storage containers. The farther away from that first sand dam, the larger storage containers a household will have. This reduces the number of inconvenient trips the woman makes. However near or far a home is from the sand dam, fetching water takes too long. The sand dam and its hand-dug well are overused. It even attracts entrepreneurs from the local market who bottle water to sell.

Sanitation Situation

Since the community attended training last year, every single home in this area has a pit latrine. Though some of them are old, they are well-dug to an average depth of eight feet. The average number of people using each latrine is only six, so no pits are full yet. They all appeared to be very clean. Almost all of these homes also had a hand-washing station near the latrine. Around half of these families have dish racks and clotheslines to safely dry their things off the ground.

Homes here have two places for garbage. There is a disposal located in the home that is regularly emptied and separated between the rubbish pit and compost pit located out back. These compost pits help farmers on their farms, while the rubbish pit takes all non-biodegradable things.

We saw Peninah Nzome again, a mother who lives far from the current water source. She told us that "the lack of sufficient water sources in the area affects household hygiene. Without water, it is not easy to be healthy. Our houses and even children will not be clean because water is still a problem." You can see pictures of Peninah fetching water and showing us her home under the "See Photos & Video" tab.

Plans: Hygiene and Sanitation Review

Our visit proved that the community has been acting on what they learned during hygiene and sanitation training last year. They have made improvements to their latrines and added hand-washing stations. The trainer has noticed the improvements, but also improvements still needed. Based on this information, we will hold one day of review for Kithuani Self-Help Group. Emphasis will be on water treatment and health promotion. Group members learned a lot last year to the benefit of their own households, but they need to share with their neighbors who may not be part of the group.

Plans: New Well

This hand-dug well will be located adjacent to the sand dam being built (click here to see the sand dam project). As the dam builds up sand, it raises the water table. An extensive water table will provide the nourishment things need to grow. The area around the dam will become increasingly green, as more water is available for both plant and human. A hand-dug well will give locals a safe and accessible point for drinking water.

Once the required materials are collected at the site, actual construction can begin. This is projected to take about a month. Local men will help excavate, and then our artisans will arrive to build a well pad and install the new AfriDev pump.

The self-help group will continuously monitor the quantity of water in the well, making sure that there is enough for everyone in the community.

Project Updates


July, 2020: COVID-19 Prevention Training Update at Yaunde Community

Our teams are working on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic. Join us in our fight against the virus while maintaining access to clean, reliable water.

We are carrying out awareness and prevention trainings on the virus in every community we serve. Very often, our teams are the first (and only) to bring news and information of the virus to rural communities like Yaunde, Kenya.

We trained community members on the symptoms, transmission routes, and prevention of COVID-19.

Due to public gathering concerns, we worked with trusted community leaders to gather a select group of community members who would then relay the information learned to the rest of their family and friends.

We covered essential hygiene lessons:

- Demonstrations on how to build a simple handwashing station

- Proper handwashing technique

- The importance of using soap and clean water for handwashing

- Cleaning and disinfecting commonly touched surfaces including at the water point.

We covered COVID-19-specific guidance in line with national and international standards:

- Information on the symptoms and transmission routes of COVID-19

- What social distancing is and how to practice it

- How to cough into an elbow

- Alternative ways to greet people without handshakes, fist bumps, etc.

- How to make and properly wear a facemask.

During training, we installed a new handwashing station with soap near the community’s water point,

Due to the rampant spread of misinformation about COVID-19, we also dedicated time to a question and answer session to help debunk rumors about the disease and provide extra information where needed.

Water access, sanitation, and hygiene are at the crux of disease prevention. You can directly support our work on the frontlines of COVID-19 prevention in all of the communities we serve while maintaining their access to safe, clean, and reliable water.




December, 2017: A Year Later: Kithuani Hand-Dug Well

A year ago, generous donors helped build a hand-dug well for the Kithuani Self-Help Group in Kenya. Because of these gifts and our monthly donors, partners are able to visit project sites throughout the year, strengthening relationships with communities and evaluating the actual water project. These consistent visits allow us to learn vital lessons and hear amazing stories – we’re excited to share this one from our partners Titus Mbithi and Mutheu Mutune with you.




Project Photos


Project Type

Hand-dug wells have been an important source of water throughout human history! Now, we have so many different types of water sources, but hand-dug wells still have their place. Hand dug wells are not as deep as borehole wells, and work best in areas where there is a ready supply of water just under the surface of the ground, such as next to a mature sand dam. Our artisans dig down through the layers of the ground and then line the hole with bricks, stone, or concrete, which prevent contamination and collapse. Then, back up at surface level, we install a well platform and a hand pump so people can draw up the water easily.


A Year Later: Kithuani Hand-Dug Well

December, 2017

I have been using this water to wash utensils, my clothes, cleaning the house and taking bath. The water is usually soft and clean which clears dirt from our clothes and the soap use is low compared to the hard water at the Muuthani River.

Keeping The Water Promise

There's an incredible community of monthly donors who have come alongside you in supporting clean water in Kithuani Community 2B.

This giving community supports ongoing sustainability programs that help Kithuani Community 2B maintain access to safe, reliable water. Together, they keep The Water Promise.

We’re confident you'll love joining this world-changing group committed to sustainability!

A year ago, generous donors helped build a hand-dug well for the Kithuani Self-Help Group in Kenya. Because of these gifts and our monthly donors, partners are able to visit project sites throughout the year, strengthening relationships with communities and evaluating the actual water project. These consistent visits allow us to learn vital lessons and hear amazing stories – we’re excited to share this one from our partners Titus Mbithi and Mutheu Mutune with you.


People in this area have grown trees for betterment of the environment using water from this well and dam system. The project has supported them with water for domestic use and also for watering their livestock. The community members have started irrigating their farms with this water, and some have planted kales, spinach, maize, yams, arrowroots and sweet potatoes. These kind of crops are highly nutritional, and once sold fetch a good income that is used to improve standards of living.

And thanks to the surplus of water an adjacent sand dam provides, this hand-dug well is able to pump clean, safe water from the catchment area.

Anne Ngei is the chairwoman who oversees this water point’s management and maintenance. She met us there to talk about the developments in her area since water came. “Life after this project has become very good because the distance to water points has decreased to less than a kilometer, and we use our time well. We have been able to run businesses, take care of our farms, and run our errands without stress... we are grateful for the various trainings we have received. They have made me become proactive. My children are picking up after me and they are slowly starting to follow the things that I do, such as treating drinking water, terracing for soil conservation and washing hands after toilet among other things. My granddaughter used to fetch water after school at Kyalai River, four kilometers from here. She'd find long lines and later come home late and this was very risky for her. Currently she only takes less than five minutes to get to the project and gets back to read for her KCSE exams," she shared.

Anne Ngei and our field officer posing at the well.

13-year-old Diana Mwende added, "I have been using this water to wash utensils, my clothes, cleaning the house and taking bath. The water is usually soft and clean which clears dirt from our clothes and the soap use is low compared to the hard water at the Muuthani River." Though she also mentioned that "accessing the water in the well after the rains come is usually challenging because the well is covered with water."

Kithuani Self-Help Group is hardworking, and they have seen the benefits of this hand-dug well and sand dam and are using them to their fullest potential. They’ve been preventing soil erosion by digging terraces and planting cover crops, which also help to hold water in the soil.


The Water Project and our partners are committed to consistent monitoring of each water source. Our monitoring and evaluation program, made possible by monthly donors, allows us to visit communities up to four times a year. Read more about our program and how you can help.


Navigating through intense dry spells, performing preventative maintenance, conducting quality repairs when needed and continuing to assist community leaders to manage water points are all normal parts of keeping projects sustainable. The Water Promise community supports ongoing sustainability programs that help Kithuani Community 2B maintain access to safe, reliable water.

We’d love for you to join this world-changing group committed to sustainability.

The most impactful way to continue your support of Kithuani Community 2B – and hundreds of other places just like this – is by joining our community of monthly givers.

Your monthly giving will help provide clean water, every month... keeping The Water Promise.


Contributors

Project Sponsor - Yakima Foursquare Church