Rehabilitation Project
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 Community
Bartholomew Spring is found in Evihule Village, Murumba, East Butsotso, Lurambi Constituency of Kakamega County. This unprotected spring has been serving and still serves a population of over 20 households who depend on it entirely for their drinking and domestic uses. Information gathered from the local users confirms that the spring is permanent; it constantly serves the community even through the driest seasons.
Mothers here wake up early in the morning to help their children prepare for school. The women run to the spring to collect water for their household chores including cleaning, feeding cattle, and cooking. While women attend to their children and homes, men attend to their large sugarcane plantations by planting, cultivating, cutting, or loading the crop that is ready to sell to the sugar factory. All of the families here depend on the growth and sale of these crops. There are a number of churches in the village that belong to different denominations, and a few well-known schools such as Shikoti Girls School.
Water Situation
The wait at the spring takes up a lot of time, which especially affects the farmers. When it hasn't rained recently, farmers must go to the spring to fetch water for irrigation. One of the men told us, "Every evening around 4pm we always crowd here trying to get this precious commodity, but we have to sit on our buckets for long waiting for our turns and that hurts me a lot." Since there is no discharge pipe that helps the spring flow, the water is stirred and muddied as each person dunks their bucket. Most of the wait is allowing time for the water to settle before fetching again.
The spring is unprotected and contaminated by surface runoff, people stepping into the water as they draw, and domestic animals that are allowed to wander. Dirty particles float on top of the water; old and used wrappers and dry leaves.
As a result of drinking this unprotected, contaminated water, community members report cases of waterborne diseases such as typhoid, diarrhea and cholera. When checking out the spring we met Adelaide, a woman who spends her time helping on the family farm. "I have been drinking water from here for long and it never dries. Most of the time we go to the clinic to treat typhoid and diarrhea which we suspect emanates from this water point. We have never had a chance for anyone to support us protect it."
Sanitation Situation
Under half of households in the area have their own pit latrine. Most have brush for walls, no roofs, and floors made of crisscrossed logs. Without roofs, these wood floors are likely to rot away! These floors are particularly dangerous for small children and the elderly, who fear falling into the pit. When walking around the village, open defecation was an obvious issue, the majority of which is practiced on the sugarcane plantations.
Not many families have helpful tools either, such as dish racks, clotheslines, or most importantly, hand-washing stations. They don't know how important simple tools like these are to maintain health.
Plans: Hygiene and Sanitation Training
Community members will be trained for four days on a variety of health, hygiene and sanitation topics. This training will result in community members donning the roles of health workers and water user committee members. The training facilitator plans to use PHAST (Participatory Hygiene and Sanitation Training), CLTS (Community-Led Total Sanitation), and ABCD (Asset-Based Community Development) methods to teach community members, especially the women and children who feel the burden of household responsibility. Training will equip each person with the knowledge needed to practice viable and effective health solutions in their homes and at the spring. It will also result in the formation of a committee that will oversee and maintain their new spring protection system. They will take up activities such as digging extra drainage and fencing out wild animals. Other training participants will take up the gauntlet of health promotion; they will be community health workers responsible for teaching others about the good hygiene and sanitation practices they learned during training.
During training, we will take this community on a transect walk to sensitize them to some of the more serious health threats. The transect walk will teach locals to watch for practices that go on and facilities that are present related to good health and hygiene. Sometimes, a participant feels shame when the group arrives at their household and points out things that are unhealthy or unhygienic; but in Kenya, this affects people to make a positive change. Training participants will also vote on and decide the families that should benefit from the five new sanitation platforms.
Plans: Sanitation Platforms
The five families chosen by the community will receive a sanitation platform, which is a concrete floor that makes a great foundation for a safe and clean latrine. These families will prepare by sinking a pit that the concrete slab can be placed over. These five new latrines will go a long way in reducing the level of open defecation in this community!
Plans: Spring Protection
All of the villagers who depend on Bartholomew Spring risk getting waterborne diseases on a daily basis. Protecting this spring will instead give users their right to enjoy good health, boost their confidence, and ultimately contribute to prolonging lives. This is the only water point in the village, so if it provides safe water, disease will be drastically reduced. The construction will also have a proper discharge pipe and drainage that will greatly increase the water flow. An increased flow of water at the spring will decrease the long wait that keeps farmers out during late hours!
Locals are eagerly preparing for this spring protection project. They have agreed to gather the local materials needed for construction to begin, which include sand, ballast, hardcore, bricks, fencing poles, and even a few helpful hands.
