Imuliru Primary School

The 352 students attending Imuliru Primary School don't have water at school. When they arrive each morning, they're already tired from balancing their schoolbooks with a full container of water. Class is often interrupted when someone realizes the water supply is low. Teachers then have to escort students out into the community to find water. We want to see this change.

A Day in the Life

A normal school day begins as students arrive early carrying water from their homes. They use that same water to clean the grounds, classrooms, and latrines. If any is still leftover, it's used to cook meals for grades seven, eight, and teachers. Regular lessons begin at 7:20am, but a good number of students fail to concentrate in class since they are already tired from carrying water. Lessons stretch until 5pm, when pupils are released to go home and help their parents.

Water

The water students bring to school every morning is of various qualities since students are from various places. By afternoon classes, they've run out of that water and need to find more. Teachers escort students on a walk to a protected spring located a little more than 500 meters away. Whether it's the water carried from home or from the nearby spring, students and staff often have to stay home or travel to the nearest for treatment because of typhoid and other waterborne sicknesses. This school is in great need of a reliable source of clean water on school grounds.

"If you do this project, it is really going to help us so much. When the children are thirsty, they run and drink any water around the school and they don't mind if it's clean or not," the headteacher told us.

Sanitation

There are latrines for the children to use, but only a few that have doors. These are in such poor condition, but many pupils still use them. Others either can't wait in the long lines or can't bear the filth; instead, they look for the privacy that's found behind buildings and bushes. Waste around campus endangers the rest of the student community.

There are no handwashing stations for students to clean up at. Headteacher Iwangu admitted that "water and sanitation facilities have been a big challenge" ever since he arrived at the school.

What we can do:

Training

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.

Handwashing Stations

The CTC club will oversee the new facilities, such as handwashing stations, and make sure they are kept clean and in working condition. The two handwashing 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.

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.

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 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 have to ration water and make frequent trips into the community.

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

This project is a part of our shared program with Western Water And Sanitation Forum (WEWASAFO). Our team is pleased to provide the reports for this project (edited for readability) thanks to the hard work of our friends in Kenya.

Project Updates

July, 2019: Giving Update: Imuliru Primary School

A year ago, your generous donation enabled us to build a rain tank for Imuliru Primary 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…

June, 2018: Imuliru Primary School Project Complete

A new rainwater catchment system was built! Imuliru Primary School in Kenya now has a new source of safe, clean water thanks to your support. Handwashing stations were installed, and students and staff have received training in sanitation and hygiene.

New Knowledge

Hygiene and sanitation training was scheduled with the help of the school principal, who ensured that the training date would be convenient for students, staff, and parent representatives. Individual teachers helped by selecting students from each class to represent the others.

Some 20 people were in attendance. The attendance was not as expected because other leaders who were invited were not able to come. This was because they were burying one of their community member who had died. So they had gone to support the family members from that community. We only trained the pupils and their sanitation teacher.

Handwashing demonstration

A number of topics were covered, including personal hygiene such as bathing, oral hygiene, and handwashing with soap as a barrier from germs; operation and maintenance of the new facilities, with each person understanding their role for long-lasting clean water and good health. The new child to child (CTC) health club will be greatly involved in project management and will be responsible for encouraging good health and hygiene practices amongst their peers, teachers, and the larger community.

Students are given new notebooks and pens to jot down what they learn - or to draw pictures of what they learn!

The participants enjoyed it so much and there was active participation. This is one of the unique school among the once we have trained. The pupils were very active in answering questions they were given. Especially on oral dental hygiene.

VIP Latrines

Latrines under construction

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

Handwashing Stations

The two handwashing stations were delivered to the school and handed over to the CTC club. These were placed outside of the boys’ and girls’ latrines to encourage handwashing 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.

The 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.

Then, we cleared 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.

Catherine happily posing in front of all the cement delivered for tank and latrine construction.

Finally, the catchment area was dug, plastered, and a staircase installed.

Dome construction could begin after 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 standard.

Rolling out the iron mesh that was used as one of the layers in the tank wall.

Once finished, the tank was given three to four weeks to undergo complete curing before it was cleaned and handed over to Imuliru Primary School, though we will continue to offer them unmatchable support as a part of our monitoring and maintenance program.

The ceremony was a great chance for us to acknowledge the school administration and students as the primary parties entrusted with the tools we’ve given, as well as remind them of our continued support as they develop.

"There is nobody who is as happy as me," Headteacher Fred Lwangu said.

"I asked for permission to sing one song praising my Savior during the handing over the celebration to thank Him for what He has done. You have saved my children from wasting a lot of time looking for water that is not clean and safe for drinking."

May, 2018: Imuliru Primary School Project Underway

A severe clean water shortage at Imuliru Primary School drains students’ time, energy, and health. Thanks to your generosity, we’re working to install a clean water point and much more.

Get to know this school through the introduction and pictures we’ve posted, and read about this water, sanitation and hygiene project. We look forward to reaching out with more good news!