Easy Access to Safe Water for Janet!

June, 2024

A year ago, your generous donation helped Thonoa Community in Kenya access clean water – creating a life-changing moment for Janet. Thank you!

Last year, your gift unlocked the potential for a brighter future for Janet. Since then, she and the Thonoa Community of 130 residents have had clean, reliable water. Your contribution has made a significant impact. Thank you for making a difference!

"My health has improved because we are drinking clean water, which does not expose us to water-related infections. I am now able to focus on domestic chores at home and farming without getting distracted by an illness caused by ingestion of contaminated water," said Janet.

Before the Sand Dam's Installation

Like many in Kenya, 24-year-old Janet is responsible for collecting water to meet her daily water needs. Before last year’s water intervention, that task stole her time and negatively affected her ability to provide for her family.

Drinking the water caused severe consequences. Many in her community suffered from waterborne diseases that created health problems, affecting their daily lives. Limited accessibility also meant people wasted time collecting sufficient water to meet their needs. The difficult journey to collect water sapped their physical and emotional energy, creating roadblocks. For Janet, in particular, it lessened her opportunity to provide for her family, as she was often ill from consuming contaminated water.

"The previous water sources were far away from my home and [I] had to borrow a donkey from the neighbor so I [could] fetch more jerrycans in one trip. The trip along the dusty roads and hilly region made fetching water an uphill task. We managed to only draw a few liters of water which was not enough to irrigate crops, conduct personal hygiene, or perform developmental activities. I would sometimes have to draw water from the seasonal river because it was closer to me than the already implemented projects. This water was unclean and caused infections like typhoid and amoeba," Janet shared.

Since the Sand Dam's Installation

Your generous gift last year was much more than a simple donation; it was a powerful statement about your commitment to this community and Janet’s future. By supporting the water solution, you made clean water an everyday reality, fostering hope for a brighter future.

Reliable and clean water lays the groundwork for improved health, education, and economic possibilities, allowing people to thrive. We frequently hear from those we interview that "water is life!"

"I am glad we have enough clean water to perform hygiene duties like washing utensils, garments, and personal hygiene. It takes me less than [an] hour to draw water here and return home. I would spend up to three hours in the past to draw water [from] the previous sources and return home," Janet said.

She continued, "We now have enough water that helps me irrigate vegetables at home and sell to our community members enabling me to be financially independent and take better care of my family's financial welfare."

The Future is Looking Bright!

A year ago, you made a difference for Janet and the rest of her community. This is just the first chapter of their story as access to clean water continues to improve their lives!

At The Water Project, we value sustainability and want to ensure that people continue to thrive. We commit to monitoring this project to ensure the water is always flowing and safe to consume. We inspect the system hardware, track water availability, conduct sanitary inspections, and collect water quality samples to identify risks. We work with our team on the ground to resolve them.

You gave Janet a crucial tool for achieving her dreams: access to clean water. Together, we can excitedly expect that with this precious resource, her enthusiasm and courage will help fulfill dreams.

"As a group, we have managed to set up a rental building at Thonoa market using water from this project. We have also been growing trees in our homes and I have managed to set up a brick house because I can now easily draw water [to use] for construction," concluded Janet.

Janet can wash her hands!

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 Thonoa Community 2A 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 Thonoa Community 2A – 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.

Project Status



Project Type: Sand Dam

Regional Program: Southeastern Kenya WaSH Program

Impact: 130 Served

Project Phase:  In Service - Jun 2023

Functionality Status:  Functional

Last Checkup: 11/14/2024

Project Features


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Community Profile

Report Submitted by
Alex Koech, Communications Officer

Those close to the water sources in Thonoa Community are lucky: their trip to fill up their jerrycans only takes a half-hour to an hour. But, unfortunately, not everyone lives so close. For most of the 130 people in Thonoa, the journey to and from the water point—a distance of seven kilometers (4.34 miles)—takes around four hours. The area is hilly and brutally hot, which makes the journey that much harder.

The hand-dug well in the below picture might have once yielded water, but now offers only mud. Now, community members must seek water elsewhere: by digging scoopholes into dry riverbeds.

"I don't get enough water to drink, [or] for my cattle," said Lucy Kanini, a 42-year-old farmer (pictured below). "The water scarcity in this region has inconvenienced my efforts in farming because I cannot plant much crops during the dry months."

"I experience water scarcity problems because there is insufficient water at home for drinking and maintaining proper hygiene," said 14-year-old Caroline (pictured below). "I also have to carry water to school, which leads to exhaustion due to long distances."

During the dry season, life in Thonoa becomes even more difficult. The lack of rain leaves the rivers and crops dry. People who normally grow their own food can't irrigate their crops, often selling their livestock to get enough money to buy food and water.

"My parents' level of income reduces because they [cannot] cultivate crops during the dry season, which ultimately affects my studies," Caroline said. "They cannot raise enough [money for school] fees or [to] buy books."

The community members cannot practice proper dental hygiene and body care due to water insufficiency. Most members of the community are unable to clean their dishes or do laundry as often as they would like. Not only is this damaging to people's physical health, but also to their dignity as human beings.

"My family does not get enough water for hygiene and sanitation, which poses a threat to our health due to hygiene-related infections," Lucy said.

Caroline said: "The water from the scoop holes is contaminated, making me sick occasionally and unable to attend classes."

With a reliable source of water closer to them, Thonoa's community members will be better able to care for themselves and their loved ones.

What we can do:

Our main entry point into the community is the Ndithi Tuinuke Self-Help Group, which is comprised of households that are working together to address water and food scarcity in their region. These members will be our hands and feet in both constructing water projects and spreading the message of good hygiene and sanitation to everyone.

Sand Dam

After the community picked the ideal spot, our technical team went in and proved the viability by finding a good foundation of bedrock. Now, our engineers are busy drawing up the blueprints.

We are unified with this community to address the water shortage. As more sand dams are built, the environment will continue to transform. As the sand dams mature and build up more sand, the water tables will rise. Along with this sand dam, a hand-dug well will be installed to give community members an easy, safe way to access that water.

Building this sand dam along with the well in this community will help bring clean water closer to hundreds of people living here.

Training

These community members currently do their best to practice good hygiene and sanitation, but their severe lack of water has been a big hindrance to reaching their fullest potential.

We will hold hygiene and sanitation training sessions with the Ndithi Tuinuke Self-Help Group and other community members to teach about important hygiene practices and daily habits to establish at the personal, household, and community level. This training will help to ensure that participants have the knowledge they need to make the most out of their new water point as soon as water is flowing.

One of the most important topics we plan to cover is the handling, storage, and treatment of water. Having a clean water source will be extremely helpful, but it is useless if water gets contaminated by the time it is consumed. We will also emphasize the importance of handwashing.

We and the community strongly believe that all of these components will work together to improve living standards here, which will help to unlock the potential for these community members to live better, healthier lives.

We typically work with self-help groups for 3 to 5 years on multiple water projects. We will conduct follow-up visits and refresher trainings during this period and remain in contact with the group after all of the projects are completed to support their efforts to improve sanitation and hygiene.

Project Updates


June, 2023: Thonoa Community Sand Dam Complete!

We are happy to share this report of this incredible work constructed in 2022, which now has all the final project pieces complete. This has allowed the community of Thonoa, Kenya, access to a new water source! Thank you. We constructed a new sand dam on the riverbed, which will build up sand to raise the water table and naturally filter water over time. We also built a new hand-dug well with a hand pump adjacent to the sand dam, providing the community with a safer method to draw drinking water supplied by the dam.

"The previous water sources were insufficient, leading to long queues at the water point. The waterpoint is minutes away from my home; thus, I will no longer have to walk several kilometers to fetch water," said 15-year-old Eric M.

"My academic performance will improve, and I will be able to attend a better secondary school because I will have more time to study and play with my friends. My personal hygiene will also improve because there is sufficient water. In the past, washing my garments or bathing was an occasional ordeal because water had to be used sparingly, which negatively affected my concentration in class and [my] self-esteem," concluded Eric.

Enjoying clean water!

40-year-old farmer Joseph Kyule shared, "We will now have enough clean water within the community to conduct personal hygiene and sanitation, drink, cook, and irrigate our crops. It will offer enough water for irrigating our crops, thus improving yields and fostering food security. I will also have more time to focus on farming because I no longer have to queue at the previous water sources that could not satisfy the entire community."

The well attached to the sand dam where community members collect water.

Sand Dam Construction Process

The members of Ndithi Tuinuke Self-Help Group collected all of the local materials, like rocks and sand, required to complete the dam. The collection of raw materials takes longer than the actual construction, lasting up to four months for a large sand dam. The group also dedicated their time and energy to support our artisans with physical labor throughout the project.

First, our team drew siting and technical designs and presented them to the Water Resources Management Authority. We also sent a survey to the National Environment Management Authority for approval before we began construction.

Once the plans were approved, we established firm bedrock at the base of the sand dam wall. In the absence of good bedrock, we excavate to a depth at which the ground is compact enough to stop seepage.

Next, we mixed and heaped mortar (a mixture of sand, cement, and water) into the foundation, followed by rocks once there was enough mortar. We then used barbed wire and rebar to reinforce the mixture.

Community members help with construction.

Once the foundation was complete, we built a timber skeleton to hold the sludge and rocks above ground level. Once our first layer dried, we repeated the process until reaching a sufficient height, width, and length.

Finally, we dismantled the vertical timber beams and left the dam to cure. This dam measures 37 meters long and 2 meters high and took 677 bags of cement to build.

The completed dam.

As soon as it rains, the dam will build up sand and store water. With this water, the surrounding landscape will become lush and fertile, and the well will provide drinking water to the community. It could take up to three years of rain for this sand dam to reach maximum capacity because in this region, sometimes it only rains once a year!

The completed dam.

New Knowledge

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

As we’ve worked with this Self-Help Group in the past, we asked them about the subjects they most needed refresher training on.

We trained the group on various skills, including bookkeeping, financial management, project management, group dynamics, and governance. We also conducted hygiene and sanitation training to teach skills like soap- and detergent-making and improve behaviors such as handwashing.

We also touched on health problems in the community, good and bad hygiene behaviors, the spread and prevention of disease, and sanitation improvements. Finally, we covered natural resource management and the operation and maintenance of the sand dam.

Learning together.

The session on water purification provoked an interesting discussion among the participants.

"One of the group members who is a member of the ‘Kavonokya sect’ asked for advice on what method of water treatment can members of that sect use to make water safe for drinking. Their faith does not allow them to go to the hospital or use medicines; they only pray and get healed by faith. Members of this sect form a sizable population in parts of Kitui County. This brought up a heated debate among the other group members, who advised her to embrace water treatment to prevent diseases. She was advised to use SODIS (solar water purification) and boiling methods, which they termed, are natural methods whereby you do not use [a] medicine," shared field officer Alex Koech.

Learning to make soap.

“The refresher training has helped us to remember the contents on hygiene and sanitation that we learned last year. I have learned how to treat drinking water using simple methods like moringa seeds (a drought-resistant tree sporting antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties) and boiling. I have also learned how to keep my latrine clean to prevent flies and bad odor. The soap-making training will help the group to generate more income through soap sales. We are happy and grateful for the support," said 53-year-old farmer Kivunda Nthambi.

Kivunda.

Conclusion

This project required a substantial collaboration between our staff, our in-country teams, and the community members. When an issue arises concerning the sand dam, 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 their local field officers to assist them.

Also, we will continue to offer them unmatchable support as a part of our monitoring and maintenance program. We walk with each community, problem-solving together when they face challenges with functionality, seasonality, or water quality. Together, all these components help us strive for enduring access to reliable, clean, and safe water for this community.

With your contribution, one more piece has been added to a large puzzle of water projects. In Kenya, Uganda, and Sierra Leone, we’re working toward complete coverage. That means reliable, maintained water sources within a 30-minute round trip for each community, household, school, and health center. With this in mind, search through our upcoming projects to see which community you can help next!

Thank you for making all of this possible!




Project Photos