Project Status



Project Type:  Rainwater Catchment

Regional Program: Western Kenya WaSH Program

Impact: 460 Served

Project Phase:  In Service - Apr 2018

Functionality Status:  Functional

Last Checkup: 02/02/2024

Project Features


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Community Profile

This project is a part of our shared program with Western Water And Sanitation Forum (WEWASAFO). Our team is pleased to directly share the below report (edited for clarity, as needed).

Welcome to the School

Eshisiru Secondary School was opened in 1986 by Mr. Josphat Khalumi, a local official who was formerly a teacher. At that time, he noted that this area only had two secondary schools; one boys' school and one girls' school. He became the major donor to get this school up and running, and it's been growing every since. It now has a total enrollment of 430 students who are taught by 19 teachers. The school also employs 11 support staff.

A normal day usually begins at 6:30am with the arrival of students, teachers and the support staff. Students start with morning study hall before they break into groups for cleaning chores. Normal classes begin at 8:10am with 10-minute breaks in between. Afternoon classes are from 2-4pm, after which students break for clubs or sports. This lasts for one hour and then everyone leaves for home.

Water Situation

The school has two small plastic tanks that they completely rely on for all of their water needs. These tanks are connected to a gutter line along the nearby roof. The water is drawn and then rationed for drinking, cooking, and cleaning. Since these containers are so small, they empty quickly when it doesn't rain. In these cases, teachers send their students out into the surrounding communities to find water.

Teachers report that students often don't return to school that day when they're sent out the gate. A lot of academic opportunity is lost for these students as they worry about finding the water needed to stay in school.

Sanitation Situation

"Our students have many times complained of stomachache, and I suppose this could be because we don't practice hand-washing due to shortage of water," admitted Deputy Principal Edward Airo.

The latrines that the school currently has are in bad shape. Some of the pits are almost full, and doors are falling off.

Plans: Hygiene and Sanitation Training and Hand-Washing Stations

Training will be held for two days. The facilitator will use PHAST (participatory hygiene and sanitation transformation), ABCD (asset-based community development), CTC (child to child), lectures, group discussions, and handouts to teach health topics and ways to promote good practices within the school. The CTC method will prepare students to lead other students into healthy habits, as well as kickstart a CTC club for the school. This CTC club will oversee the new facilities, such as hand-washing stations, and make sure they are kept clean and in working condition. The two hand-washing stations will be delivered to the school, and the club will fill them with water on a daily basis and make sure there is always a cleaning agent such as soap or ash.

Plans: VIP Latrines

Two triple-door latrines will be constructed with local materials that the school will help gather. Three doors will serve the girls while the other three serve the boys. And with a new source of water on school grounds, students and staff should have enough to keep these new latrines clean.

Plans: Rainwater Catchment Tank

A 50,000-liter rainwater catchment tank will help alleviate the water crisis at this school. The school will also help gather the needed materials such as sand, rocks, and water from the spring for mixing cement. Once finished, this tank can begin catching rainfall that will be used by the school’s students and staff. Students will no longer be sent out in search of water when the small supply at the school runs dry.

We and the school strongly believe that with this assistance, standards will significantly improve. These higher standards will translate to better academic performance!

Project Updates


July, 2019: Giving Update: Eshisiru Secondary School

A year ago, your generous donation enabled us to build a rainwater catchment tank for Eshisiru Secondary School in Kenya. The contributions of incredible monthly donors and others giving directly to The Water Promise allow our local teams to visit project sites throughout the year, strengthening relationships with communities and evaluating the water project over time. These consistent visits allow us to learn vital lessons and hear amazing stories. Read more…




April, 2018: Eshisiru Secondary School Project Complete

Eshisiru Secondary School in Kenya now has a new source of safe, clean water thanks to your generous donation. A new rainwater catchment system was been built, and there are now six new latrines in use. Two hand-washing stations were installed, and students received training in sanitation and hygiene.

New Knowledge

We spoke with the principal and teachers about the importance of hygiene and sanitation training. The teacher specifically in charge of sanitation at the school worked to recruit students from each grade.

We taught that hygiene entails personal hygiene, water and food hygiene, and environmental hygiene. Attention needs to be given to each facet of hygiene to enjoy a healthy life.

We covered topics including but not limited to:

– Water pollution and water treatment

– Health starts with a clean self and clean environment

– Group dynamics, leadership, and governance

– Forming an effective CTC (child to child) club

– Hand-washing

Demonstrations were used for hand-washing, tooth-brushing, solar disinfection, and many other topics. We facilitated group discussions and presentations, and students took part in role-plays. The students also received handouts to help them teach hygiene and sanitation to their peers.

The CTC club includes both students and teachers who want to take responsibility for spreading the message of good health and hygiene among their peers. They are also responsible for managing hand-washing stations, cleaning latrines, and keeping the school environment tidy. A water user committee was formed by parents and school administration, which is responsible for overseeing and maintaining the new facilities.

Even the teachers in attendance admitted that they learned quite a bit of new information.

"I am so happy! All along I thought I knew how to wash my hands, but I realized I used to do it all wrong. Now that I have learned the ten steps of hand-washing, I will stick to it and teach friends and family," Mr. Edward Airo exclaimed.

VIP Latrines

This project funded the installation of six new ventilated improved pit (VIP) latrines. All of these latrines are easy to use and clean. And with a rainwater catchment tank, there should be enough water to keep them clean all the time.

Hand-Washing Stations

The two hand-washing stations were delivered to school and handed over to the CTC club. These were placed outside of the boys’ and girls’ latrines to encourage hand-washing after latrine use. CTC club members teach other students how to properly wash their hands at the stations, and make sure there is always soap or ash available. Now the school has the stations they need, and they have the water to fill them.

Rainwater Catchment Tank

Construction for this 50,000-liter rainwater catchment tank was successful!

Parents, staff, and students helped our artisans gather everything needed for construction. All the while, women cooked meals for the artisans, and the school provided accommodations for the artisans during their work. Local men and women helped our artisans with their manual labor, too.

A local parent helping to sink the pit for new latrines.

The construction process officially began with our staff and school administration looking around the school compound to try and determine the best location for a new rainwater catchment tank. This needed to be the best site with good, clean roofing to catch the rainwater.

Rainwater tank construction began with clearance of the site: excavating the soil within the required measurements to make level ground for the tank foundation. The foundation was cast by laying hardcore on a level ground and then reinforcing it using steel, concrete and waterproof cement.

Both the drawing pipe as well as the washout pipe were affixed as the foundation was lain. The wall was built with ferro-cement techniques through six layers. The inner wall was plastered while rough casting was done on the outer part. Finally, the catchment area was dug, plastered, and a staircase installed.

The dome construction followed fter the superstructure had been given enough time to settle. The manhole cover was fitted, inlet pipes were connected to the roof gutters, inlet screens, ventilation pipes (breathers) and overflow pipes were all done to standards.

The only challenge to this entire process was finding good enough sand for our cement mixture. The parents had rallied together to help find enough sand and water, but the sand they brought was gravelly and would have resulted in a weak structure. We consulted with the school board and quickly organized for the delivery of better sand.

Once finished, the tank was given three to four weeks to undergo complete curing before it was cleaned and taken over by Eshisuru Secondary School.

"We are proud owners of a big tank that will provide us with safe and clean water! No more untreated water, since you have promised to be dosing our tank. We are grateful," teacher Edward Ommani said.

He and his students gathered around to celebrate as we handed the facilities over for them to use. Smiles were all around as we witnessed clean water coming from the tap!




January, 2018: Eshisiru Secondary School Project Underway

Eshisiru Secondary School in Kenya has begun building a new source of safe, clean water because of your generous donation. A rainwater catchment tank and new latrines are being constructed, hand-washing stations provided, and the school is being trained on proper sanitation and hygiene practices. Imagine the impact this will have on these students! Thank you for noticing the need here, and we’ll keep you posted as the work continues. But for now, please enjoy the new stories, pictures, and maps of this school.




Project Photos


Project Type

For a rainwater collection system, we build gutters around a building with good, clean roofing to channel rain where we want it. From there, the water falls through a filtered inlet pipe into a high-capacity storage tank, the size of which is based on population and average rainfall patterns. In the tank, water can be stored for months, where it is easily treated and accessed. Learn more here!


Giving Update: Eshisiru Secondary School

July, 2019

A year ago, you funded a rainwater catchment tank at Eshisiru Secondary School in Kenya – creating a life-changing moment for Jocelyn Nyaranga. Thank you!

Keeping The Water Promise

There's an incredible community of monthly donors who have come alongside you in supporting clean water in Eshisiru Secondary School.

This giving community supports ongoing sustainability programs that help Eshisiru Secondary School 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 later, it's clear that the water and sanitation projects we helped implement at Eshisiru Secondary School were just part of an exciting and ongoing process of improvement for this school.

Upon entering the school grounds, the first thing that draws your eye is the clean compound. The environment is well maintained. Visiting the latrines, the state of sanitation is encouraging. The water from the tank has helped students and staff come a long way in cleaning their latrines.

As it turns out, our construction of the VIP latrines here prompted the school to replicate the project on their own, thus constructing three more doors of latrines for the girls just adjacent to the ones we had constructed. Through this complementary effort, the girls now have enough latrines. The concept of handwashing has also been fully embraced, and students can be seen washing their hands at their respective stations throughout the school compound.

Jocelyn, Deputy Principal Abel Limozi, student, and Lillian

Deputy Principal Abel Limozi has seen many positive impacts on student health and performance at Eshisiru since these projects were installed.

"Our students are able to clean their classrooms, latrines, and plates on time, unlike before when [they] would have to go all the way to the borehole to clean their plates and fetch water for classrooms and toilet cleaning," said Mr. Limozi.

Abel and Lillian

He continued to share that the "availability of this tank has saved our students a lot of time, and this has been used in class thus improving their performance. [The] nearness of the tank to the kitchen has helped our cook a whole lot [too] since he used to fetch more than 40 twenty-liter jerrycans of water from the borehole for kitchen use every day. He now comfortably draws the water from the tank."

Jocelyn and Field Officer Lillian

Ever-eloquent and studious, 17-year-old Jocelyn Nyaranga also shared her personal experience and observations of how these water and sanitation projects have impacted herself and the rest of her school.

"Our sanitation in the school has improved since we are able to wash our hands after visiting the toilet due to the availability of water and the handwashing containers," said Jocelyn.

"We are also able to wash our plates during lunch break in [a] short [time] without having to go to the borehole like we used to do before and waste a lot of time. We are able to clean our classrooms and latrines too in time. Previously we used to [get] congested at the borehole with pupils from the primary [school] and the villagers, and this could cause chaos but this has now stopped."

For Jocelyn and the rest of the pupils at Eshisiru Secondary School, their stories give life to the hope for continued improvements and increased opportunities for their school.

Getting a drink


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 Eshisiru Secondary School 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 Eshisiru Secondary School – 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 - Imago Dei Community