Project Status



Project Type:  Rainwater Catchment

Regional Program: Western Kenya WaSH Program

Impact: 487 Served

Project Phase:  In Service - May 2017

Functionality Status:  Functional

Last Checkup: 01/09/2024

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

Matende Girls High School was started in the year 1974 by its sponsor Church of God. Their purpose was to make sure that children living in the area were educated, empowered and in turn developing their entire community.

The school now has a total of 450 girls and employs 26 teachers and 11 support staff. The girls are a mix of both boarders and day scholars.

Girls boarding at the school wake up at 4:30AM to prepare for morning study hall which begins at 5AM. Day scholars arrive at 6:30AM for daily cleaning. Normal lessons run between 8AM and 4PM with two breaks and a lunch hour in between. Students are sent to the field for games and sports for two hours after classes, whereafter the day scholars leave for home and boarders eat supper and study on their own.

Water Situation

During our first visit to the school, the lack of proper water was obvious. The school gets water from a well for a portion of the year, and they have a few plastics tanks for storing well water and rainwater. The water here is not sufficient for the entire school population, especially since it is a boarding school.

What's worse, the well does not provide water during the driest season of the year (a period of three months or more). And throughout the changing seasons, the well continues to silt up, exacerbating the low levels. In this situation, the school must buy water from vendors. The water purchased from vendors is not only inadequate, but it’s quite expensive. Poor health and thus low academic performance is always reported during these water-scarce times of the year.

Sanitation Situation

The school’s sanitation level is quite low and needs to be addressed. There are 10 doors of poorly-constructed pit latrines in the boarding section, and 10 doors in the learning section. Two of each set of latrines belong to the teachers and any other visitors.

The school only has one improvised hand-washing facility being used by teachers, compromising sanitation and hygiene among students. Students are at a high risk of contracting water and hygiene-related diseases, thus leading to a high rate of absenteeism and a massive spending of resources on treatment.

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: Rainwater Catchment Tank

A 50,000-liter rainwater catchment tank will be constructed on school grounds. Teachers, students, and parents will gather the materials needed for this project, including sand, ballast, bricks, and hardcore. This contribution will fuel a sense of responsibility for the school and community to take care of their new facilities. Once materials are mobilized, the WEWASAFO team will arrive to lead the construction effort.

With adequate clean water, the school will have water for drinking, cooking, cleaning, and hand-washing.

Plans: VIP Latrines

Two triple-door latrines will be constructed, providing six new latrines just for the students. Latrine materials will be mobilized the same way as the tank, ensuring the school feels these facilities are truly theirs. And with a rainwater catchment tank nearby, there will be enough water to keep them clean.

Principal Elizabeth Musambai said, "Today, everybody is advocating for education for the girl child. Matende Secondary is one of the schools tasked with that noble task. It is a fact that this cannot be achieved if the school does not have sufficient and clean water. The project being undertaken by WEWASAFO will go along way in ensuring that he girl child is clean and well taken care of. This will indeed motivate the girls to work hard and better their performance because they will also be studying in a clean environment."

School administration and parents are positive that with these new facilities and training, their students’ academic performance will improve. Students will be healthy and empowered to focus on what’s important!

Project Updates


October, 2018: A Year Later: Matende Girls High School

A year ago, generous donors helped construct a rainwater catchment tank and new latrines for Matende Girls High School in Kenya. The contributions of incredible monthly donors and others giving directly to The Water Promise allow 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...




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!


A Year Later: Matende Girls High School

September, 2018

“The implementation of the project ended my worries and anxiety of how I will access clean water. All this has given me a chance to concentrate more on my studies and perform well in all subjects.” – Claire Amakove

 

Keeping The Water Promise

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

This giving community supports ongoing sustainability programs that help Matende Girls High 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 construct a rainwater catchment tank and new latrines for Matende Girls High School in Kenya. The contributions of incredible monthly donors and others giving directly to The Water Promise allow 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 – and we’re excited to share this one from Jacklyne Chelagat with you.


The lives of the students in this school have improved to a great extent. Before the implementation of the project, the girls really suffered - especially those who lived as boarding students. They consumed dirty, unsafe water bought from water vendors. This rainwater catchment tank enables them to access to clean and safe water, thus improving their health. In addition, the training equipped the school with adequate information on how to uphold proper hygiene standards.

"The installed facilities have gone a long way in improving sanitation in the school," Deputy Principal Rodesia Takaundo said.

"Before we got the tank, students would only wash a few days a week, but now they can wash daily. The school is cleaner and has gone a long way in improving the academic performance of the students."

Deputy Head Rodesia Takaundo

Word of the successes brought by the new tank is traveling throughout the community. Student enrollment grew from 495 to 550 in the past year - proof of the value of safe, reliable water.

Construction of the tank is only one step along the journey toward sustainable access to clean water. The Water Project is committed to consistent monitoring of each water source. Our monitoring and evaluation program, made possible by donors like you, allows us to maintain our relationships with communities by visiting up to 4 times each year to ensure that the water points are safe and reliable.

This is just one of the many ways that we monitor projects and communicate with you. Additionally, you can always check the functionality status and our project map to see how all of our water points are performing, based on our consistent monitoring data.

One project is just a drop in the bucket towards ending the global water crisis, but the ripple effects of this project are truly astounding. This tank in Matende Girls High School is changing many lives.

"I joined this school some three years ago," 17-year-old boarding student Claire Amakove said.

Claire Amakove

"I did experience an insufficient supply of clean and safe water that was an impediment towards performing better in school. Many times did we go to class without bathing. The implementation of the project ended my worries and anxiety of how I will access clean water. All this has given me a chance to concentrate more on my studies and perform well in all subjects."

This is only possible because of the web of support and trust built between The Water Project, our local teams, the community, and you. We are excited to stay in touch with this community and support their journey with safe water.

Read more about The Water Promise 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 Matende Girls High 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 Matende Girls High 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
1 individual donor(s)