Project Status



Project Type:  Protected Spring

Regional Program: Western Kenya WaSH Program

Impact: 168 Served

Project Phase:  In Service - Oct 2017

Functionality Status:  Functional

Last Checkup: 04/09/2024

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 in Mumuli Community starts at 5:30am. Parents who have school-going children start by preparing them to get out the door. Once they have finished seeing them off to school, they embark on their daily duties like bringing water from the spring, washing utensils, collecting firewood and many other domestic chores. Once finished at home, most adults head to the farm to grow popular crops like sugarcane, vegetables, or bananas. They take a quick break to prepare lunch at home, but then you will see them carry part of their cooked lunch and their farm tools back to the farm. They spend most of their day on the farm to make ends meet.

Water Situation

Shalolwa Spring is the main source of water for 168 people who live in Mumuli. Its water is used for drinking, cooking, and watering animals.

Conflicts often arise during certain times of the day while crowds of people wait for their turn to fetch water. It's first come first serve, but the fights always happen because women and children disagree about who got there first.

This unprotected spring is located on the lower end of a hill and is surrounded by bushes; two reasons the water is so dirty. Many people who lack latrines defecate uphill, and during the rainy season the rainwater carries the waste into the water. After drinking this water, community members battle waterborne diseases like typhoid.

Sanitation Situation

Sanitation is also a big problem here, as many people do not have good latrines and use the privacy of bushes and sugarcane plantations to relieve themselves. "Your coming was timely, since many of us have suffered in ignorance. A lot of our money is lost in seeking medication, yet these are diseases we could easily avoid. I sincerely appreciate this intervention," said a community member at the spring. The situation is so severe, for less than a quarter of households have usable pit latrines.

Less than half of households have helpful tools like dish racks and clotheslines to safely dry their belongings up off the ground.

Plans: Hygiene and Sanitation Training

Community members will attend hygiene and sanitation training for at least two 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

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.Fetching water is predominantly a female role, done by both women and young girls. Protecting the spring and offering training and support will therefore help empower the female members of the community by giving them more time and efforts to engage and invest in income-generating activities.

Project Updates


July, 2020: COVID-19 Prevention Training Update at Mumuli Community, Shalolwa 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.

Trainers review prevention reminders chart

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 Mumuli, Kenya.

A simple piece of cloth becomes a face mask during the tutorial

We trained more than 18 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.

Handwashing session

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.

Handwashing volunteer

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.

Handwashing volunteer

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.

Homemade mask tutorial

"We have been empowered to go out there and fight Coronavirus," said training participant Mrs. Jane Khayende. "Let us go out and empower all people that live in this village with the knowledge we have been taught. Together, we shall overcome this disease."

A young boy shows the COVID-19 informational pamphlet to his curious little brother

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.

A sample mask made at training

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.




October, 2018: A Year Later: Mumuli Community, Shololwa Spring

A year ago, your generous donation enabled us to protect Shololwa Spring for Mumuli Community in Kenya. The contributions of incredible monthly donors and others giving directly to The Water Promise allow our local 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...




October, 2017: Mumuli Community Project Complete

Shalolwa Spring in Mumuli 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 in Mumuli Community drew quite a crowd; there were 21 people in attendance, all engaged in each activity.

2 kenya4737 training

Two of our facilitators covered several topics, including 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, hygiene promotion, and many others. The community should refrain from washing clothes, watering animals, farming with fertilizers, and open defecation in the vicinity.

There was a transect walk, which means we walked around Mumuli with the community members, talking about the environment and keeping an eye out for things that could negatively affect it. We came across a few spots with open defecation, which disgusted community members and motivated them to keep their neighbors accountable and encourage them to build latrines.

We also demonstrated the 10 steps of hand-washing and gave each participants a chance to practice. We taught how to build a tippy-tap (hand-washing station) out of all easily accessible materials. Mr. Jackson thanked the team and confessed to not washing his hands after visiting the latrine. "I will be washing my hands after visiting the toilet, before and after eating, and after farming activities. This is the main thing I have learned," commented Mr. Jackson.

5 kenya4737 training

A few days after training, we returned to take final pictures of the finished spring protection. During our visit, we noticed that many more homes now have dish racks, clotheslines, and compost pits.

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 are continuing to encourage families to finish building walls and roofs over their new latrine floors.

13 kenya4737 sanitation platform

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 even volunteered their time and strength to help the artisan with manual labor.

11 kenya4737 construction

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.

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.

10 kenya4737 construction

Beginning to work on the steps down to the spring.

This process has transformed Shalolwa Spring into a clean water source. People gathered to celebrate this transformation and fetch their first buckets of clean water. As health improves with the presence of clean and safe water, time and money will be unlocked for economic progress.




September, 2017: Mumuli Community Project Underway

Mumuli Community will soon have a clean, safe source of water thanks to your donation. Community members have been drinking contaminated water from Shalolwa Spring, and often suffer physical illnesses after doing so. Our partner conducted a survey of the area and deemed it necessary to protect the spring, build new sanitation platforms (safe, easy-to-clean concrete floors for latrines), and conduct sanitation and hygiene training. Thanks to your generosity, waterborne disease will no longer be a challenge for the families drinking the spring’s water. We look forward to sharing more details with you as they come! But for now, please take some time to check out the report containing community information, pictures, and maps.




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: Mumuli Community, Shololwa Spring

October, 2018

The improvements in this community are immediately apparent upon visiting!

Keeping The Water Promise

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

This giving community supports ongoing sustainability programs that help Mumuli Community, Shalolwa 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, your generous donation enabled us to protect Shololwa Spring for Mumuli Community in Kenya. The contributions of incredible monthly donors and others giving directly to The Water Promise allow our local 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 our local team member Betty Muhongo Majani with you.

"The implementation of [this] project has been vital to this community, especially to us children, since we can now access safe water," 15-year-old Violet Musanga said to us while visiting the spring.

Violet Musanga

Lucy Wasike, who was also there fetching water, agreed. She added that the hygiene and sanitation training alongside visits from Community Health Workers has helped boost the uptake of sanitation facilities and the implementation of water treatment by community members. The changes are apparent upon visiting.

As we made our way to the spring we noticed that most homes have sanitation facilities like a clothesline, dish rack, and compost pit. The compounds are also neat, further proving that sanitation standards in this community have really improved!

"There has been improved health even to those who didn't attend the training," Lucy said.

Violet added, "The water and sanitation committee members are doing good work in educating us on the issues of health."

Protection of the 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.

Lucy Wasike

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 Mumuli is changing many lives.

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 Mumuli Community, Shalolwa 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 Mumuli Community, Shalolwa 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

The Ford Foundation Matching Gift Program
3 individual donor(s)