July, 2020: COVID-19 Prevention Training Update at Ng'eny Barak Community, Ng'eny Barak Spring

Our teams are working on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic. Join us in our fight against the virus while maintaining access to clean, reliable water.

We are carrying out awareness and prevention trainings on the virus in every community we serve. Very often, our teams are the first (and only) to bring news and information of the virus to rural communities like Ng'eny Barak, Kenya.

We trained more than 17 people on the symptoms, transmission routes, and prevention of COVID-19. Due to public gathering concerns, we worked with trusted community leaders to gather a select group of community members who would then relay the information learned to the rest of their family and friends.

We covered essential hygiene lessons:

- Demonstrations on how to build a simple handwashing station

- Proper handwashing technique

- The importance of using soap and clean water for handwashing

- Cleaning and disinfecting commonly touched surfaces including at the water point.

We covered COVID-19-specific guidance in line with national and international standards:

- Information on the symptoms and transmission routes of COVID-19

- What social distancing is and how to practice it

- How to cough into an elbow

- Alternative ways to greet people without handshakes, fist bumps, etc.

- How to make and properly wear a facemask.

During training, we installed a new handwashing station with soap near the community’s water point, along with a sign with reminders of what we covered.

Due to the rampant spread of misinformation about COVID-19, we also dedicated time to a question and answer session to help debunk rumors about the disease and provide extra information where needed.

We continue to stay in touch with this community as the pandemic progresses. We want to ensure their water point remains functional and their community stays informed about the virus.

Water access, sanitation, and hygiene are at the crux of disease prevention. You can directly support our work on the frontlines of COVID-19 prevention in all of the communities we serve while maintaining their access to safe, clean, and reliable water.

April, 2019: Ngeny Barak Community, Ngeny Barak Spring Project Complete

N'geny Barak Community is celebrating their new protected spring, so celebrate with them! N'geny Barak Spring has been transformed into a flowing, safe source of water thanks to your donation. The spring is protected from contamination, five sanitation platforms have been provided for the community, and training has been done on sanitation and hygiene.

Spring Protection

Construction at N'geny Barak Spring was successful and water is now flowing from the discharge pipe.

"This new spring is a new dawn to us after being very open for a very long time. If anybody - God forbid, tries to mess with this water source, we will make sure that he or she pays for it because we are going to take care of it very well," said Mrs. Shasala.

The Process:

Community members provided all locally available construction materials, e.g bricks, clean sand, wheelbarrows of ballast, and gravel. Community members also hosted our artisans for the duration of construction. Everything went well during the entire construction process. Community members including women and children carried sand to the site using buckets and basins, coming together with one mind to ensure that they would enjoy accessing safe drinking water.

Delivering our bags of concrete to the spring construction site

The spring area was excavated with jembes, hoes, and spades to create space for setting the foundation of polyethylene, wire mesh, and concrete.

After the base had been set, both wing walls and the headwall were set in place using brickwork. The discharge pipe was fixed low in place through the headwall to direct the water from the reservoir to the drawing area.

As the wing walls and headwall cured, the stairs were set and ceramic tiles were fixed directly below the discharge pipe.

The ceramic tiles installed under the discharge pipes protect the concrete from the erosive force of the falling water and beautifies the spring. The process of plastering the headwall and wing walls on both sides reinforces the brickwork and prevents water from the reservoir from seeping through the walls and allows pressure to build in the collection box to push water up through the discharge pipe.

The concrete dried over the course of five days, during which a community member wetted the concrete to make sure it would dry without cracking. The source area was filled up with clean stones and sand and covered with a polyethylene membrane to eliminate any potential sources of contamination.

We went as a team to meet the community at the spring to do an official handing over ceremony. With this spring now handed over to the community, we will continue to follow up with the water committee to make sure everything runs smoothly. The committee has already worked with the community to build a fence around the area to protect the new construction from wild animals.

Sanitation Platforms

All five sanitation platforms have been installed and make wonderful, easy to clean latrine floors. These five families are happy about this milestone of having a latrine of their own. We are continuing to encourage families to finish building walls and roofs over their new latrine floors.

New Knowledge

Through the help of the village elder Mr. Solomon Koech, we were able to arrange for hygiene and sanitation training. He found a good venue, set a time, and went around the community to invite people who rely on N'geny Barak Spring.

The training group posing with the notebooks they used to jot down the new things they learned

Being in the afternoon, the training was held when the weather was warm. Participants enjoyed sitting on a warm ground by the spring construction site. Since each topic applies to everyday health, the participants were very involved and had a lot to say.

Participants learned about:

– Leadership and governance
– Management and maintenance of the spring

Meeting by the spring made it simple to walk over and have a lesson about care and maintenance

– Family planning
– Personal hygiene, including handwashing

Step by step, the facilitator began introducing components of personal hygiene entailing bathing twice a day, proper dental hygiene, always wearing clean clothes and shaving. The trainer also talked about environmental hygiene that includes tree planting, maintaining cleanliness of the household compound, living in well-drained land (prevents mosquito breeding), and living in well-ventilated houses.

– Dental hygiene

– Waterborne and water-related disease, along with water treatment methods

"I am now 78 years old and have never learned how to properly wash my hands with soap, but today I am really happy to practice it now and always. Every topic covered is rich with information touching on the very key areas on hygiene which must be followed keenly, observed, and practiced. With all the knowledge shared today, I can surely promise that our family members will be able to do all that you people have taught us and that we shall have better lives," said Mr. Koech.

Thank You for making all of this possible!

February, 2019: Ngeny Barak Community, Ngeny Barak Spring Project Underway

Dirty water from Ngeny Barak Spring is making people in Ngeny Barak Community sick. Thanks to your generosity, we’re working to build a clean water point and much more.

Get to know this community through the narrative and pictures we’ve posted, and read about this water, sanitation and hygiene project. We look forward to reaching out with more good news!