Project Status



Project Type:  Protected Spring

Regional Program: Western Kenya WaSH Program

Impact: 196 Served

Project Phase:  In Service - May 2017

Functionality Status:  Functional

Last Checkup: 01/10/2024

Project Features


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Community Profile

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

A normal day for Emarembwa Community members starts at 6:30 AM. Women and children move back and forth to prepare for breakfast. Women are seen milking cows, after which they take the milk to the shopping center to sell. They turn the earned money around to buy sugar and tea leaves for breakfast. At this point, they are assured of breakfast. Girls are sent to the river while boys are sent to take care of cattle.

Women in this community have come up with a merry-go-round by which they help each other do daily activities like cultivating land and cutting sugarcane, among other activities. This has helped them save both time and money.

Water Situation

Nyangweso Spring is named after Mr. and Mrs. Nyangweso, the landowners.

When girls and other community members fetch water, they go to Nyangweso Spring. This spring is unprotected, which means it is open to contamination from different sources. When it rains, waste is washed into the water. The activities of both animals and humans also contaminate the water, and animals in particular drink straight from the spring.

Some families store their drinking water in covered clay pots, while others use 100 to 200-liter plastic barrels. Many women boil a portion of this water for their families, but community members still suffer from waterborne diseases like typhoid.

Sanitation Situation

Less than half of households here have their own pit latrine. Those we observed are made of old iron sheets and sugar sack doors, and are dirty and smelly. And less tha a quarter of homes have helpful tools like dish racks and clotheslines to dry their belongings.

There were only a couple hand-washing stations spread throughout the community.

Plans: Hygiene and Sanitation Training

Community members will attend hygiene and sanitation training for at least three days. This training will ensure participants are no longer ignorant about healthy practices and their importance. The facilitator plans to use PHAST (Participatory Hygiene and Sanitation Transformation), CLTS (Community-Led Total Sanitation), ABCD (Asset-Based Community Development), group discussions, handouts, and demonstrations at the spring.

Training will also result in the formation of a committee that will oversee operations and maintenance at the spring. They will enforce proper behavior around the spring and delegate tasks that will help preserve the site, such as building a fence and digging proper drainage.

Plans: Sanitation Platforms

On the final day of training, participants will select five families that should benefit from new latrines.

Training will also inform the community and selected families on what they need to contribute to make this project a success. They must mobilize locally available materials, such as bricks, clean sand, hardcore, and ballast. The five families must prepare by sinking a pit for the sanitation platforms to be placed over. All community members must work together to make sure that accommodations and food are always provided for the work teams.

Plans: Spring Protection

Fetching water is predominantly a female role, done by both women and young girls. Protecting the spring and offering training and support will help empower the female members of the community by giving them more time to engage and invest in income-generating activities. In addition, protecting the spring will ensure that the water is safe, adequate and secure. Construction will keep surface runoff and other contaminants out of the water. Village Elder Kizito says "It's just by God’s grace we are still alive; we have really spent a lot of money on medication and this time round we hope to engage in other development activities and redirect our finances to the same."

Project Updates


October, 2018: A Year Later: Emarembwa Community

A year ago, generous donors helped protect Nyangweso Spring for Emarembwa Community in Kenya. The contributions of incredible monthly donors and others giving directly to The Water Promise allow teams to visit project sites throughout the year, strengthening relationships with communities and evaluating the water project over time. These consistent visits allow us to learn vital lessons and hear amazing stories. Read more...




Project Photos


Project Type

Springs are water sources that come from deep underground, where the water is filtered through natural layers until it is clean enough to drink. Once the water pushes through the surface of the Earth, however, outside elements like waste and runoff can contaminate the water quickly. We protect spring sources from contamination with a simple waterproof cement structure surrounding layers of clay, stone, and soil. This construction channels the spring’s water through a discharge pipe, making water collection easier, faster, and cleaner. Each spring protection also includes a chlorine dispenser at the waterpoint so community members can be assured that the water they are drinking is entirely safe. Learn more here!


A Year Later: Emarembwa Community

October, 2018

The community members have shown a great improvement, and changes are immediately apparent when visiting homes.

Keeping The Water Promise

There's an incredible community of monthly donors who have come alongside you in supporting clean water in Emarembwa Community, Nyangweso Spring.

This giving community supports ongoing sustainability programs that help Emarembwa Community, Nyangweso Spring maintain access to safe, reliable water. Together, they keep The Water Promise.

We’re confident you'll love joining this world-changing group committed to sustainability!

A year ago, generous donors helped protect Nyangweso Spring for Emarembwa Community in Kenya. The contributions of incredible monthly donors and others giving directly to The Water Promise allow teams to visit project sites throughout the year, strengthening relationships with communities and evaluating the water project over time. These consistent visits allow us to learn vital lessons and hear amazing stories – and we’re excited to share this one from Betty Muhongo Majani with you.


We realized that life for community members has really improved during our interviews.

The water source is no longer contaminated, as was the case before. Women and children now draw water with ease from the discharge pipe. As we passed through some homes, we noticed sanitation facilities like dishracks, clotheslines, and compost pits are now being used.

The community members have shown a great improvement. We also saw sanitation facilities put in place and children washing their hands after using the toilet. This clearly indicates that they took seriously what they learned during sanitation and hygiene training.

"We now have clean and safe water for consumption. This has improved my academic performance since I no longer miss class lessons due to health issues that were caused by drinking dirty water from the unprotected spring," 13-year-old Irene Murunga said.

Protection of this spring is only one step along the journey toward sustainable access to clean water. The Water Project is committed to consistent monitoring of each water source. Our monitoring and evaluation program, made possible by donors like you, allows us to maintain our relationships with communities by visiting up to 4 times each year to ensure that the water points are safe and reliable.

This is just one of the many ways that we monitor projects and communicate with you. Additionally, you can always check the functionality status and our project map to see how all of our water points are performing, based on our consistent monitoring data.

One project is just a drop in the bucket towards ending the global water crisis, but the ripple effects of this project are truly astounding. This spring in Emarembwa is changing many lives.

Celinia Makomere and her children stand at the spring

"Protection of this spring has saved time. A lot of time for the women and children was wasted waiting for the water to clear before fetching," Celinia Makomere said to us.

"At the moment, community members take the shortest time possible to fetch water. We no longer wait in lines and for water to settle before filling our containers."

This is only possible because of the web of support and trust built between The Water Project, our local teams, the community, and you. We are excited to stay in touch with this community and support their journey with safe water.

Read more about The Water Promise and how you can help.


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 Emarembwa Community, Nyangweso Spring 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 Emarembwa Community, Nyangweso Spring – 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.


Contributors

Christian Academy of Indiana, Inc.
Conant High School, Bioengineering and Environmental Sustainability Class
New Franklin PTO, Inc.
Faith Chapel
Junior Achievement - H2Go Company
Jasper Co Middle School
Status Church
Temple Shalom Emeth
PAL3100 Sem 1 Session 2016-2017
Anna Jonas
Memory of Grayson James Okyere
Kerr's 7th Grade
Christ Outreach Church Women of Faith
Birthday Donation for Cassandra Hughes
K. Graves
Rycus Family
CHS
Crush It or Flush It
149 individual donor(s)