March, 2021: Sayia Spring Project Complete!

Makhwabuye Community now has access to clean water! We transformed Sayia Spring into a flowing source of water thanks to your donation. Our team protected the spring and trained the community on improved sanitation and hygiene practices, including COVID-19 prevention.

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"I learned that water of satisfactory quality is the fundamental indicator of health and wellbeing of a society and hence, crucial for the development of a country. Contaminated water not only has the potential to pose an immediate threat to humans, but it also can affect an individual's productive rate. Now that I have access to clean and safe water, my productivity will be very high, for getting water is very easy," said Irene Mmbasu, a businessperson in the community.

"My goal is to venture into agribusiness, and so this will be made possible because there's enough water which will help in irrigation. The pipe fixed will help me connect a pump that will water my crops within a short time. In so doing, I will produce more farm produce which, in turn, will boost my income," she said.

Children were just as excited as the adults about the new water point.

"My life will be impacted positively because there will be a great reduction in hospital visits and cases of hospitalization. My goal is to perform well in my academics, and this is possible because the time used to fetch water has been reduced. With the accessibility of the water, there's no more time wastage. Thus, more time will be spared for my academic investment," said Priscah, a teenager and secondary school student in the community.

Preparing for Spring Protection

Community members worked together to source and carried all locally available construction materials to the spring. These included bricks, sand, stones, and fencing poles. Some people also chiseled away at large stones to break them down into the gravel. Because people have to carry most items by hand, the materials collection process can take anywhere from a few weeks to months.

When everything was prepared, we sent a lorry to the community to deliver the rest of the construction materials, including the cement, plastic tarps, and hardware. Then, our artisan and field officers deployed to the spring to begin work. Individual households provided meals throughout each day to sustain the work team.

From Open Source to Protected Spring: A Step-by-Step Process

At last, it was time to dig in at the spring! Women and men lent their strength to the artisan each day to help with the manual labor. First, we cleared and excavated the spring area. We dug a drainage channel below the spring and several surface runoff diversion channels above and around the spring. These help to divert environmental contaminants carried by the rains away from the spring.

To ensure community members could still fetch water throughout the construction process, we also dug temporary diversion channels from the spring’s eye around the construction site. This allowed water to flow without severely disrupting community members’ water needs or the construction work.

Excavation created space for setting the spring’s foundation made of thick plastic tarp, wire mesh, concrete, and waterproof cement. After setting the base, we started brickwork to build the headwall, wing walls, and stairs.

Next, we began one of the most crucial spring protection steps to ensure a fully functional water point: setting the discharge pipe. The discharge pipe has to be low enough in the headwall so that the water level inside never rises above the spring’s eye, yet high enough to leave eighteen to twenty inches between the pipe and the spring floor to allow room for the average jerrycan (a 20-liter container) to sit beneath the pipe without making contact.

If the discharge pipe were placed too high above the spring’s eye, too much backpressure could force the flow to emerge elsewhere. Too low, and community members would not be able to access the water easily. We embedded the pipe using clay (or mortar when the clay is in short supply) and placed it at a slight incline to ensure water flows in the right direction.

In coordination with brickwork, we pitched medium to large stones on both sides of the spring’s drainage channel. We then cemented and plastered each stone group into place, forming the rub walls. These help to discourage people and animals from trying to stand on that area, which could cause soil erosion and thus a clogged drainage area.

With brickwork and stone pitching completed, we turned to cementing and plastering both sides of the headwall and wing walls. These finishing layers reinforce the brickwork and prevent water in the reservoir from seeping through the walls. In turn, enough pressure builds in the reservoir box to push water out through the discharge pipe.

As the headwall and wing walls were curing, we cemented and plastered the stairs and installed four tiles beneath the discharge pipe. The tiles protect the concrete from the falling water's erosive force while also beautifying the spring and facilitating easy cleaning of the spring floor.

We transitioned to the final stages of construction with the tiles in place - backfilling the reservoir box. First, we cleared the collection box of any debris that may have fallen in since its construction, such as dead leaves or other items. Then we redirected the temporary diversion channels back into the reservoir box, channeling water into this area for the first time. We closed off all of the other exits to start forcing the water through the discharge pipe only.

With much help from the community, we filled up the reservoir area with the clean and large stones they gathered, arranging them in layers like a well-fitting puzzle. We covered the stones with a thick plastic tarp to minimize potential contamination sources from aboveground, followed by a layer of soil. We piled enough soil on top to create a slight mound to compensate for the backfill’s future settlement.

Community members transplanted grass onto the backfilled soil to help prevent erosion. Finally, the collection area was fenced to discourage any person or animal from walking on it since compaction can lead to disturbances in the backfill layers and potentially compromise water quality.

The entire construction process took about two weeks of work and patience to allow the cement and plaster to finish curing. As soon as it was ready, people got the okay from our field officers to fetch water.

We officially handed over the spring directly following training to mark the community's ownership of the water point. The dedication process was very lively. The community members assembled at the spring, with one man named Patrick leading prayers of thanksgiving. The spring's Secretary, Boniface Sayia, who happened to be the community mobilizer for this project, thanked the partners who came to their assistance and ensured that their spring was protected.

Boniface also appreciated the community members who worked hard alongside our team and artisan to ensure they would have safe and clean water. He closed his remarks by urging the community members to maintain cleanliness and be available whenever they are called to do the general cleaning at the spring.

Training on Health, Hygiene, COVID-19, and More

Due to the ongoing challenges and restrictions amidst the pandemic, we worked with both local leaders and the national Ministry of Health to gain approval for a small group training about health, hygiene, and COVID-19 prevention.

Together with the community, we found their preferred date for training while considering other community calendar events such as the agricultural season and social events. We requested a select yet representative group of community members to attend training, relaying the information learned to the rest of their family and friends. When the day arrived, facilitators Jemmimah Khasoha, Samuel Simidi, and Olivia Bomji deployed to the site to lead the event.

14 people attended the training, including members of the local self-help group. We held the training next to the spring under a big tree which provided shade and fresh air. It was a spacious venue that allowed all participants to maintain the required COVID-19 measures, including physical distancing. The site was far from noise and other forms of disruption. Thus it was very conducive for the training.

The attendance was good, with gender parity well-observed, showing a sign of commitment among the community. The participants were made the session lively by asking and answering questions. From their active participation, it was evident they had been eagerly waiting for this opportunity of learning, the trainers noted.

Perhaps the most important topic of the day was our session on COVID-19 prevention and control. Due to the rampant spread of misinformation about COVID-19, we dedicated time to a question and answer session to help debunk rumors about the virus and provide extra information where needed. We also left behind a rice sack painted with messages of COVID-19 prevention reminders in the local language. We affixed the sign to the spring's fence during training and encouraged community members to use it as a daily reminder to stay cautious both at home and at the spring.

We covered several other topics, including community participation in the project; leadership and governance; personal and environmental hygiene; water handling and treatment; operation and maintenance of the spring and sanitation platforms; dental hygiene; the ten steps of handwashing, and how to make and use a tippy tap and leaky tin. We held an election for the newly formed water user committee leaders during the leadership and governance session.

We also brainstormed income-generating activities that can be used to start both a community savings account for any future minor repairs to the spring and a cooperative lending group to enable members to develop their own small businesses.

The most memorable topic was health promotion. One participant commented that when a child is growing, there is always a natural stage of diarrhea, and she insisted it was very normal. When the facilitator explained the various causes of diarrhea, including consuming dirty water, many women said that they changed their minds, agreeing that the diarrhea was actually not a natural stage.

The other memorable topic was food hygiene. The trainer stated that there are various ways of making money from food, including eating healthy food that is well-prepared using good hygiene practices. This "makes" money in that it really saves money for families who would otherwise become sick and have to pay for medication to treat illnesses related to poorly-prepared, contaminated food. A lively conversation about homegrown versus commercial crops ensued, including differences in fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, and other inputs.

"The training has been very valuable in terms of maintaining hygiene. I have learned that many things that happen are due to negligence and ignorance that makes one suffer. When people are asked to maintain cleanliness or environmental hygiene, and they don't, it affects the entire population surrounding you," said Knight Mukanda, a farmer in the community.

"The training was so good, and it has been an eye-opener to great things. This new knowledge will impact my life positively because I have learned things to do with health promotion, which, in most cases, drains our money when it's not well observed," said Boniface Sayia, a businessperson who is also the spring's landowner and the elected Secretary of the new water user committee.

We asked Boniface to reflect on the COVID-19 prevention training session and share what life has been like during the pandemic, including any changes he might make post-training.

"The steps that we had taken to stop the spread of the virus are wearing masks when leaving to go to public gatherings, keeping social distance from one another especially when in a crowd, and also washing hands more often." But the training provided helpful reminders for other prevention best practices, Boniface said, like maintaining one's personal health as a measure to boost one's immunity and installing handwashing stations at each home's entrance to encourage more frequent handwashing.

"Worries about the virus have started reducing because we have started adjusting to living with it. People have learned to reduce contact greetings and also to wash their hands more often, Boniface said.

When an issue arises concerning the water project, the water user committee is equipped with the necessary skills to rectify the problem and ensure the water point works appropriately. However, if the issue is beyond their capabilities, they can contact our team of field officers to assist them. Also, we will continue to offer them unmatchable support as a part of our ongoing monitoring and maintenance program.

Thank you for making all of this possible!

February, 2021: Sayia Spring Project Underway!

Dirty water from Sayia Spring is making people in Makhwabuyu, Kenya sick. Thanks to your generosity, we’re working to install 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 news of success!