October, 2018: A Year Later: Mahanga Community

A year ago, generous donors helped protect Omollo Spring for Mahanga 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...

July, 2017: Mahanga Community Project Complete

Omollo Spring in Mahanga Community, Kenya is now a protected, clean 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 given in sanitation and hygiene. Imagine the changes that all of these resources are going to bring for these residents! You made it happen!  Now, want to do a bit more? Join our team of monthly donors and help us maintain this spring protection and many other projects.

We just updated the project page with the latest pictures, so make sure to check them out! And please enjoy the rest of the report from our partner in Kenya:

Project Result: New Knowledge

Hygiene and sanitation training was held at Mr. Omollo's compound, who is the father of Mr. Evernce Vidija, a well-known leader in Mahanga. Mr. Vidija prepared his community for the upcoming training, recruiting at least one representative from each household. Children, men and women were all invited to learn about health and hygiene as well as management and maintenance of the spring.

A total of 25 people showed up to learn; many of whom were children often sent to fetch water. The children were most excited about doing demonstrations, telling us that they learned a lot of these things at school already.

Training topics included but were not limited to leadership and governance; operation and maintenance of the spring; healthcare; family planning; immunizations; the spread of disease and prevention. We also covered water treatment methods, environmental hygiene, and hygiene promotion. We also took a session to emphasize proper maintenance of the spring protection project. The community should refrain from washing clothes, watering animals, farming with fertilizers, and open defecation in the vicinity.

Trainer Jacqueline Shigali kept everyone interested and involved in the important information she shared.

We held training after the spring was finished so we could hold onsite demonstrations on how to keep the area clean. Our trainer also brought illustrations that facilitated discussion on healthy and unhealthy behaviors. Group discussions were also very effective in helping participants take responsibility for what they were learning.

"The session has been very educative and timely because we have been charged and challenged to take seriously the aspect of spring management... Children have gotten the firsthand information on how they need to handle themselves at the spring site. I therefore don't expect to eat any excuses from any parent or child who will act contrary to... hygiene and sanitation standards. We are indeed grateful to have you with us," said Mrs. Sharon Kandenyi.

Demonstrating how to keep the spring clean.

Project Result: Sanitation Platforms

All five sanitation platforms have been installed and are ready for use. These five families are happy about this milestone and are optimistic that there will be much less open defecation. People without proper latrines would often use the privacy of bushes, but now have a private place of their own. It is expected that proper use of latrine facilities provided by the sanitation platforms will go a long way in reducing environmental pollution here. We will continue to encourage these five families to build walls and roofs to protect their new platforms.

Mrs. Angeyo has prepared a place for her new latrine by digging a pit and collecting materials for the walls and roof.

Project Result: Spring Protection

Community members provided all locally available construction materials, e.g bricks, wheelbarrows of clean sand, wheelbarrows of ballast, fencing poles and hard core (crushed rock and gravel). Accommodation and food for the artisan were provided and a few people volunteered their services as laborers.

The children really stepped up to see this project's success. And they did it joyfully!

The spring area was excavated to create space for setting the foundation of polythene, wire mesh and concrete. After the base had been set, both wing walls and the head wall were set in place using brickwork. The discharge pipe was fixed low in place through the head wall to direct the water from the reservoir to the drawing area.

The artisan is excavating the area up to the spring to make level ground for the foundation.

As the wing walls and head wall were curing, the stairs were set and the tiles were fixed directly below the discharge pipe. This reduces the erosive force of the falling water and beautifies the spring. The process of plastering the head wall 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.  Lastly, the base of the spring was plastered and the collection box was cleaned. The source area was filled up with clean hardcore and covered with a polythene membrane to eliminate any potential sources of contamination. Finally, grass was planted and cutoff drains dug to direct surface water away from the spring box.

A drain channel was even directed into a nearby fish pond to continuously supply it with fresh water.

During the project a majority of the beneficiaries who tirelessly lent their helping hands were children. They were involved right from the beginning until the end. Mrs. Josphine Mugeha, who is also an Early Child Development teacher says, "Most families around this place are headed by single mothers who are unemployed. Each day they wake up with fresh worries on how to fend for their children. Much of the household chores have been offloaded to be done by children because that is the only way to train them how to survive." Her statement agrees with what Mr. Evernce Vidija said: "My parents died when I was 10. Thus, I had to learn about responsibility early in life. The greatest undoing for most of these families, that have left behind many widows and orphans, is HIV/AIDS. Many children have nowhere to turn to except to put up with their old grandparents who could not be asked to provide labor during the construction work."

Mrs. Mugeha helped during training by doing what she does best - Teaching!

The children enjoyed the work and loved to be involved in such tasks. They helped our artisan load and transport the sand to the construction site. During the construction process, they were at the forefront ferrying sand, ballast and bricks.

"My daughter confided in me how happy she was the day I allowed her to join her fellow children to carry some bricks to the construction site. 'Daddy, today I took three pieces of bricks and the artisan used them to construct the stair! I feel so good about it because people will walk on them on their way to fetch clean water from our spring. I wish they could guess which bricks they will be stepping on,' she exclaimed. That aspect has kept Edith Nyadoya, my daughter, very mindful about the spring," Mr. Joseph Agofya said.

These hardworking children are already enjoying clean water.

Most times it is the children who are sent to fetch water from the spring. Their opinions were even respected during training. "As children, we say thank you to WEWASAFO and the donor. We are also grateful that our parents allowed you to construct for us the spring. We will be drawing water from a clean and decent place! I will also tell my friend at school how good our spring looks. Our village will be respected a lot," Edith Nyadoya said.

Everyone joined together to celebrate the spring's completion. "I am very delighted to see this reality manifested... The community will save much time when they come to collect water because it has now been harnessed to discharge water from a clean place and in an organized manner. The artisan did a commendable job and we really love his artistic skills - more so to design the spring so it has to discharge water into the fish pond without allowing any back flow. The spring has boosted our self-esteem as a community and set up in us the new level of Abraham Maslow's Law of human needs," Mr. Vidija shared on the behalf of all.