Project Status



Project Type:  Rainwater Catchment

Regional Program: Western Kenya WaSH Program

Impact: 500 Served

Project Phase:  In Service - Feb 2020

Functionality Status:  Functional

Last Checkup: 03/07/2024

Project Features


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Banja Secondary School was founded in 1989 with an initial student population of 48 taught by two teachers. The current principal, Mr. Robert Korir, took over in 2018 with a current student enrollment of 530. There are four dormitories so that some of the students who live far away can board for the semester.

Students study Kiswahili, English, mathematics, physics, biology, chemistry, religion, agriculture, geography, history and government, computer, and life skills. The campus is quite impressive with 29 classrooms, a library, and staff offices.

Despite the breadth of the campus, the students still lack adequate water on school grounds for their drinking, cooking, and cleaning needs. This water is even more important for the students who board here overnight and need the water to clean up every morning and evening.

Parents of needy students have been allowed to bring water to the school and do other manual chores as fee payment for their students. We met Mrs. Milenje and Mrs. Abayi during our visit. The two were found bringing water to the school from Katigara Water Spring, which is about one kilometer away from the school. The school also has to pay other parents to help others out with fetching water.

The school administration was able to acquire four plastic tanks that equal a total capacity of 20,000 liters, but these are not nearly sufficient to meet the daily needs of both the boarding students and day students. Students say they're normally dry soon after it rains.

Insufficient water in the school has made it difficult to practice basic hygiene such as handwashing and cleaning of bathrooms. It is very hard for boarders who have to waste academic time to either go get water for themselves or wait for the water supplied by parents.

"Shortage of clean water is a big problem in this community. Nobody loves stomachache and diarrhea or any other disease related to water. We really need an urgent intervention to evade these problems that have stayed with us for long due to lack of enough clean water. The school is spending a lot of money trying to purchase water when the tanks dry up," said Teacher Robert.

The available latrine doors are dirty and need to be cleaned. Some of the latrine pits are almost full, especially the ones serving the dormitory sections. The lack of regular cleaning is attributed to water scarcity. Thus, there is a dirty, foul smell coming from the latrines and urinal.

What we can do:

"The school hygiene and sanitation situation is very unstable and is so affected by the perennial water shortages that keep hitting us hard every term," said Mr. Musuri, a school cook.

"The high population of both boys and girls is really putting a lot of pressure on the available sanitation facilities and thus making it hard to keep the school clean and hygienic. At the kitchen, our operations get hampered by inadequate and irregular water supply."

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

There are no handwashing stations.

Two handwashing stations will be delivered to the school, and the CTC 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!

Project Updates


February, 2020: Banja Secondary School Project Complete!

Banja Secondary School in Kenya now has access to a new source of safe, clean water thanks to the completion of their rain tank, which has the ability to collect 50,000 liters of water. We installed new latrines and handwashing stations for students, and we trained students and staff on improved sanitation and hygiene practices. All of these components work together to unlock the opportunity for these students to live better, healthier lives.

A pupil enjoying water from the rain tank

For decades now, Banja Secondary School has had challenges with the availability of water. The school has been drawing water from the nearby sources and this put the students' lives at risk as they had to traverse various homes to get to the commodity that was also unsafe for drinking. The installation of their new rain tank has brought hope as the students will now access water directly in the school's compound. Upon the project's completion, the school community freely expressed their happiness and gratitude to our team for considering them.

"We are grateful to our donors for having considered Banja for the facility. For a long time, our students have been going to the rivers to fetch water and this has greatly impacted their performance. This facility will help us tap rainwater in the school, allowing our students to get water directly within the school's compound. I believe from now henceforth, our performance is going to improve drastically," stated the Senior Teacher Mr. Julius Odongo.

A student enjoying water from the rain tank

Rain Tank

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

Parents, staff, and students helped our artisans gather everything needed for construction. All the while, the school cooks prepared meals for the artisans, and the school provided accommodations for the artisans during their work. Local women and men 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 rain tank. This needed to be the best site with good, clean roofing to catch the rainwater. Then, we cleared the site by excavating the soil within the required measurements to make level ground for the tank foundation. The foundation was cast by laying hardcore on level ground and then reinforcing it using steel, concrete and waterproof cement.

Mixing concrete on top of rain tank foundation

Both the drawing pipe as well as the washout pipe were affixed as the foundation was laid. The wall was built with ferro-cement techniques through 6 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.

Artisan works on plaster inside the rain tank

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.

Handing artisan a support pole for the dome

Once finished, the tank was given 3 weeks to undergo complete curing before it was cleaned and handed over to Banja Secondary School, though we will continue to offer them unmatchable support as a part of our monitoring and maintenance program.

VIP Latrines

This project funded the installation of 6 new ventilated improved pit (VIP) latrines, half for girls and half for boys.

Girls pose with their new latrines

All of these new latrines have cement floors that are designed to be easy to use and clean. And with a rain tank right on school property, there should be enough water to keep them clean.

Boys pose with new latrines

Handwashing Stations

The 2 handwashing stations were delivered to the school and handed over to the student health club. These were placed outside of the girls’ and boys’ latrines to encourage handwashing after latrine use. Health club members teach other students how to properly wash their hands at the stations, make sure the stations are filled with water, and work to ensure that there is always soap or ash available.

Girls using and posing with a handwashing station

New Knowledge

Hygiene and sanitation training was scheduled with the help of the school principal and Senior Teacher Mr. Julius Odongo, who together 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.

Facilitator Samuel Simidi leads the training session

Some 20 students attended training, which was held inside a classroom and then outside for the practicals. All of the participants showed zeal in the entire training and one could not rate some as more active than others. The entire training session had active participation and this was evident during the recap session as the pupils responded positively to every question passed to them.

Students take notes during training

We covered a number of topics, including personal hygiene such as bathing, oral hygiene, and handwashing with soap as a barrier from germs; and operation and maintenance of the new facilities, with each person understanding their role for long-lasting clean water and good health. The new student 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.

Trainer Victor Musemi leads the handwashing practical

All of the practical demonstrations, such as the 10 steps of handwashing, dental hygiene, and solar disinfection were new to the participants as evidenced by a majority who were left with mouths open during the exercises. It was excellent to see the pupils pick up and demonstrate these brand new practices so quickly.

The leadership and governance session was vital in establishing the future functionality and sustainability of the projects installed in the school. Under this topic, the facilitator helped the participants understand that leadership comes with power and obligations. The facilitator emphasized that no leader should misuse or abuse the power vested in them at any time. When it came time for the election of the student health club leaders, every position saw 2-3 pupils running to be a representative. This made the topic and the election very special.

Pupil Rodah demonstrates handwashing during training

"The training has been timely considering the challenges we are facing as a community. We have gathered immense information which I know and believe will help rectify and improve our hygiene and standards," said pupil Tobias.

Thank you for making all of this possible!




January, 2020: Banja Secondary School Project Underway!

A severe clean water shortage at Banja Secondary 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!




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!


Contributors

Project Sponsor - Da Bomb Bath Fizzers
1 individual donor(s)