Project Status



Project Type:  Rainwater Catchment

Regional Program: Western Kenya WaSH Program

Impact: 281 Served

Project Phase:  In Service - Mar 2016

Functionality Status:  Functional

Last Checkup: 03/07/2024

Project Features


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Community Profile

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

Background Information

Nabwani Secondary School is situated in Nabwani Village, Gaigedi sub-location, Wodanga location in Sabatia sub-county of Vihiga County. The school was started in 2011 as an initiative of the Pentecostal Assemblies of God Church and the Nabwani community members. It is a mixed full day school with a population of 252 students from form two to form four. The form one students did not report in at the time of this survey. Nabwani Secondary School also employs a total of 11 teachers.

The Current Source

The school does not have water or sanitation facilities of their own. The facilities the school uses are either borrowed from the primary section or the neighboring church. These shared facilities include a kitchen, latrines, and a 500-liter plastic water tank that also doubles up as the only hand-washing facility between teachers and students.

To keep the 500-liter tank full, the school groundsman uses a wheelbarrow to constantly fetch water from a spring that is two kilometers away. In some cases, classes have to be interrupted for students to help fetch this water for cooking, cleaning, drinking, and hand-washing purposes. But still, even with a perpetually full tank, this can never be enough water to meet the demands of an ever-growing school population.

Sanitation Situation

Nabwani Primary School only has four VIP latrines for boys while girls have only two that the campus is willing to donate to the female secondary students and staff. "It is an embarrassing situation to share sanitation facilities with students. The situation is worsened when teachers are joined with students in making long queues," said the deputy principal. "Keeping these sanitation facilities clean is still a long-awaited dream because the facilities are still being shared between us and the girls from the primary section. This has made it so hard to hold people responsible for the mess," she added regretfully.

Training Sessions

Parents, students, and staff will be trained for two days on attitudes about hygiene and sanitation and its practices. The training facilitator plans to use PHAST (Participatory Hygiene and Sanitation Transformation), CLTS (Child-Led Total Sanitation), ABCD (Asset-Based Community Development), CTC (Child-to-Child), group discussions, handouts, and demonstrations. CLTS and CTC will be invaluable as they encourage child leaders’ critical role in leading and promoting positive change in their communities.  This training will also result in the formation of a CTC club that will be charged with overseeing and maintaining the sanitation facilities on campus.

Building sanitation facilities will boost students' morale and help them work hard. It will also help ease the long waits witnessed when students use latrines during breaks. Besides, hygiene and sanitation trainings will also empower the school community to embrace personal hygiene as well as good environmental hygiene standards. Water availability within their own compound will help the school keep up with their scheduled syllabus and will in turn translate to improved academic performance. "Nabwani Secondary School is desperate for water and the sanitation facilities aid," says the deputy principal, "we are so thankful to The Water Project for having a big heart to consider needy schools like us."

Project Results: Rainwater Catchment Tank

The work team began construction of the 30,000-liter rainwater catchment tank on February 8th. They began by clearing the site. Once clear, they cast and then set the foundation of the tank. After the foundation was given time to harden, the team could then build up the superstructure and wall the tank. The dome was caste and fit, and then the manhole, delivery pipes, inlets, draw pipes, ventilation pipes, and screens were installed. Finally, the drawing point and drainage areas were finished.

With construction of the Nabwani Secondary School thank complete, the institution is now waiting for rains to come and provide them with safe water. Students have a water point that is safe and free from contamination, as opposed to the previous situation when students would wake up very early in the morning in order to fetch water from an unprotected spring 1.5 kilometers away from the school. Cases of absenteeism are expected to decrease as do the incidences of waterborne diseases.

VIP Latrines

Construction of two triple-door VIP latrines is complete and are now being used by students. Students no longer have to share latrines with the primary school section, and so it is now much easier to maintain an acceptable level of hygiene. The time that was initially wasted in line for the primary school latrines is now utilized for studies; the deputy principal is certain that this will result in much better academic performance.

Training

Training was held in one of the school's classrooms, and drew together parents, students, and their teachers. There was a total of 15 participants, of which included nine students planning to form the school's CTC club.

The facilitator used demonstrations, walks around the school campus, group discussions, and presentations to teach the group about the following topics:

  • Resource mobilization
  • Community participation
  • Primary healthcare
  • Forming a CTC club
  • Children's rights
  • Fundraisers
  • Hand-washing
  • Waterborne diseases and their prevention
  • Promoting good health
  • Project maintenance

The elected CTC president, female student Mwinyi Ali said, "Initially we did no give much effort to hand-washing procedures, but now we have learned the importance of hand-washing and the percentage reduction of diarrhea incidences attributed to hand-washing using clean water and soap. This is a great milestone for us!" This is a clear indication that the CTC training had a great impact on the entire school community and the neighborhood: The CTC club is active and has already recruited more members to spearhead maintenance and promote high sanitation and hygiene standards. The club meets once a week and cleans sanitation facilities and fills hand-washing stations with water on a daily basis.

The hand-washing facilities are yet to be delivered to the school. However, the students are using temporary stations constructed by the CTC club for washing purposes

Project Updates


November, 2017: A Year Later: Nabwani Secondary School

A year ago, generous donors helped build a rainwater catchment system, latrines, and hand washing stations for Nabwani Secondary School 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. Because of these consistent visits, we learn vital lessons and we hear amazing stories – we’re excited to share this one with you from field officer Jacqueline Shigali.




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!


"This is a great milestone for us!"

Mwinyi Ali

A Year Later: Nabwani Secondary School

August, 2017

“What you did in our school is immeasurable! I no longer carry water from home or the spring, neither do I run to the primary school to use their latrines” says Renine Obaga. “Don’t just think it is the tank, latrines and hand washing stations; a lot of positive change is taking place in this school because of the project you gave us. The WASH cabinet has become so active and I believe it is nurturing future leaders!”

Keeping The Water Promise

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

This giving community supports ongoing sustainability programs that help Nabwani 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 ago, generous donors helped build a rainwater catchment system, latrines, and hand washing stations for Nabwani Secondary School 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. Because of these consistent visits, we learn vital lessons and we hear amazing stories - we're excited to share this one with you from field officer Jacqueline Shigali.

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“It was evident Nabwani Secondary School compound is very tidy, classrooms were clean and even students themselves looked so neat. This is due to the availability of enough water within the school compound. Cases of diarrheal disease have reduced, thanks to the WASH training where participants were taught good hygiene practices. This means a lot of time and money that could be used for treatment and fetching water from the spring have been saved and is being used profitably. This explains why there was improved performance in the national examination as well,” says Jacqueline.

“The Nabwani community as a whole is so grateful for a great transformation since construction of a 30,000-liter water tank and 6 doors of VIP latrines,” says deputy Principal Lorna Mwenesi. “The tank has helped the school in terms of storage unlike the former days when water could be fetched by students in 20-liter jerry cans which also acted as storage facilities. Since construction of this tank, our children have never gone to the spring to fetch water – the tank did not dry even during the dry spell,” said the deputy Principal. “Time used to be wasted as students walked down the spring to get water where they would queue with community members. No wonder the school’s mean score in the national examination improved, allowing our institution to have their first candidate ever to join a university on merit! People are no longer hired to fetch water for cooking and children do not carry water from home to school, which has really boosted self-esteem for many,” she says smiling.

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Meals are prepared on time since the water tank was constructed just near the kitchen where the cooks just draw and use it instead of waiting for school children or casual laborers to bring from far. Utensils are now washed and rinsed properly which has lessened outbreaks of diseases. Food is also cleaned the right way as opposed to the former days when dirt was seen in food as there was little water for washing before cooking.

“Sometimes the food never used to be washed at all because of inadequate water. But now our food is so clean as it is washed in plenty of water,” continued the deputy. “There has been an outcry of cholera in the neighboring schools but Nabwani did not even have one case of the disease. This is because of the available water for washing hands and the WASH training carried out last year.”

 

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Construction of 6 doors of VIP latrines was also a great blessing for the school. The primary school children used to share latrines with Secondary school students since the secondary did not have their own facilities. Crowding and disagreements on who to wash the latrines had started bringing chaos between the two institutions and it had reached a level where the primary children had begun insulting secondary school children. But now the relationship between the two institutions has been cemented.

Jacqueline also spoke with 15-year-old Brendah Kasudi, a student at Nabwani Secondary School, who shared, “students have enough time to sit in class and read because we don’t have to fetch water. A considerable amount of time has also been saved as the long queues that used to be at the latrines have been reduced by construction of six new doors. The new facilities have also brought confidence and boosted self-esteem among the students.”

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News that Jacqueline was visiting the school spread and Renine Obaga, a form two member of the CTC (child-to child) club, asked to be interviewed as well. Renine explained how much relief he felt after construction work ended. “What you did in our school is immeasurable! I no longer carry water from home or the spring, neither do I run to the primary school to use their latrines” he stated. “Don’t just think it is the tank, latrines and hand washing stations; a lot of positive change is taking place in this school because of the project you gave us,” he continued. “The WASH cabinet has become so active and I believe it is nurturing future leaders because to be honest, I used to be so shy until the time I became a CTC club member where everyone is given a platform to speak and bring out new ideas. We also get a better understanding of health when we teach others and this has made me a better person,” he added.

“This water project is the beginning of a transformation in Nabwani Secondary School,” Jacqueline confirms. “A lot of positive changes are seen in the school. We will continue to visit this school and share more stories.”

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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 4 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 Nabwani 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 Nabwani 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.


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