Project Status



Project Type:  Rainwater Catchment

Regional Program: Western Kenya WaSH Program

Impact: 500 Served

Project Phase:  Reserved

Project Features


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St. Ignitius Mukoyani Primary School started in 1989 as an initiative of a Catholic church that wanted a nearby school for the members' children to attend. Since then, the school has grown and attracted even more children from Shisere Village to the point that it currently has 504 students enrolled.

The 12 teachers instruct using a formal curriculum for mathematics, science, social studies, English, Kiswahili, and religion.

Students need to leave home very early since they walk to school and are expected to be there by 6:30 am. Once at school, they break up into groups to do different cleaning chores such as sweeping and picking up litter. There are morning and afternoon classes, breaking at 3:20 pm so pupils can play games for one hour before cleaning their classrooms and dismissal.

There is no water on school grounds. A small plastic tank was purchased when the school opens, but the plastic has broken apart and it can no longer collect and store water.

This has forced the school administrators to require students to bring water from their homes in the mornings. Water brought to school by pupils does not match their need. The kitchen uses water to prepare meals for teachers and some pupils and clean all the utensils. It's all students have for drinking and cleaning, too. The water quantity is so low, and there's no way to track where students got their water from. Carrying heavy containers of water is also a tiring task for students.

Most pupils have suffered from waterborne illnesses and missed school. When such a case is reported, pupils miss class until they get treatment. Treatment is also costly, considering the fact most pupils are from poor families.

"Running a school without a stable source of water is so difficult," said Teacher Okwako.

"The pupils' enrollment has been on the increase year after year. Water brought to school by the pupils is so unreliable and inadequate. I do not even know the source of some of this water. Some could even be collecting rain, surface water runoff, or stagnated water."

What we can do:

Training

Training on good hygiene habits 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

This 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.

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

We're just getting started, check back soon!


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!


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