April, 2021: Thona Community Sand Dam Complete!

Thona, Kenya now has access to a new source of water, thanks to your donation. A new sand dam was constructed on a sandy riverbed, which will build up sand to raise the water table and naturally filter water.

"This new water project is like a dream come true. It will bring water close to my family and me. Having easy access to clean water all the time will be good for us as it will lead to improved living standards and improved levels of hygiene and sanitation, especially at times like now during the COVID-19 pandemic," said Wanza Ndemmbei.

"I am looking forward to improved income generation through poultry and livestock farming because my chicken and animal population will have easy access to water from the new water points."

We worked with the Ndithi Tuinuke Self-Help Group for this project. The members and their families contributed materials and physical labor to complete the project. Also, they were trained on various skills such as bookkeeping, financial management, project management, group dynamics, and governance. We also conducted hygiene and sanitation training to teach skills like soapmaking and improve behaviors such as handwashing.

When an issue arises concerning the water project, the group members are equipped with the necessary skills to rectify the problem and ensure it works appropriately. However, if the issue is beyond their capabilities, they can contact our field officers to assist them.

Sand Dam

The community members collected all of the local materials like rocks and sand required to complete the dam. They also provided labor to support our artisans. The collection of raw construction materials takes longer than the actual construction. For a large sand dam, materials collection could take up to four months.

Siting and technical designs were drawn and presented to the Water Resources Management Authority, and a survey was sent to the National Environment Management Authority for approval before construction started. Once approved, we established firm bedrock at the base of the sand dam wall. In the absence of good bedrock, excavation is done to a depth at which the technical team is satisfied that the ground is firm enough to stop seepage.

Then mortar (a mixture of sand, cement, and water) is mixed and heaped into the foundation. Rocks are poured into the mortar once there is enough to hold. Barbed wire and rebar are used to reinforce the mixture.

Once the foundation is complete, a skeleton of timber is built to hold up the sludge and rocks above ground level. The process is then repeated until a sufficient height, width, and length are built up. The vertical timber beams are dismantled, and the dam is left to cure. This dam measures 38 meters long and 3 meters high and took 723 bags of cement to build.

Sand dam construction was simultaneous to constructing a hand-dug well, which gives locals a safer method of drawing water. As the sand dam matures and stores more water, more will be accessible as drinking water from the well. To see that hand-dug well, click here.

As soon as it rains, the dam will begin to build up sand and store water. With this water, the surrounding landscape will become lush and fertile. However, it could take up to three years of rain for this sand dam to reach maximum capacity; sometimes, it only rains once a year!

"This sand dam and the shallow well project will help increase access to clean water and water for farming activities to our homes. Our community will now be more water secure. The project is close to my homestead, and access to clean water will now be from a stone's throw distance," said farmer Lucy Kanini.

"I am now in a better position to engage in irrigation farming because water is available in unlimited quantities. I will establish a kitchen garden and help improve my family's eating habits using the available water resources from the project."

New Knowledge

The area Field Officer Patrick Musyoka was in charge of community mobilization for the training. He called the self-help group chairperson and notified him of the date of the training. All community group members were invited for the training alongside local community leaders.

Patrick conferred with the field staff about their previous visits to households and interviews with community members to determine which topics the community could improve upon.

They decided to train on topics including health problems in the community, good and bad hygiene behaviors, how diseases spread and their prevention, choosing sanitation improvements, choosing improved hygiene behaviors, planning for behavioral change, handwashing, and soapmaking.

The community members chose to have their training at the local shopping center called Ndithi. The training was done in a commercial plot built by the community group.

A notable topic during the training was latrines. Latrine construction at home is emphasized since open deification is one factor leading to diarrheal diseases. During a follow-up that our team did in 2019 at almost all the self-help group member's homesteads, it was noted that there happened to be a member who did not have a latrine. The member was encouraged to construct a latrine but never did it.

During this training, the member testified that he came to learn that open defecation can make someone sick. He said that this pushed him to construct a latrine. Members were impressed by his decision and found the topic memorable.

Soap making

“The hygiene training has been of great importance to us in so many ways. Since we first attended the training, a lot of positive changes have been experienced. Waterborne diseases have reduced, people in our area that did not have latrines have constructed latrines, and implementation of other sanitation infrastructures has been done," shared Nzambi Mysyoka.

"Today's refresher has woken us up, and it will really help us much since it has reminded us where we have fallen as far as hygiene and sanitation is concerned. Handwashing stations in most homes at the gate were not functional, but now we are going to fix them."

Mixing soap

Thank you for making all of this possible!

March, 2021: Thona Community sand dam underway!

A severe clean water shortage at Thona Community drains peoples’ time, energy, and health. Thanks to your generosity, we’re working to install a clean water point and much more.

Get to know this community 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!