October, 2018: A Year Later: Hondolo Community

A year ago, generous donors helped protect Musila Spring for Hondolo 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...

October, 2017: Hondolo Community Project Complete

Musila Spring in Hondolo 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. Calister Musila's homestead. He also helped us track down everyone who fetches water at the spring so we could invite them to attend. We worked to ensure that all groups of people were represented; young and old, men and women.

Training ended up reaching a total of 19 people, out of which 15 were women and four were men. Women normally outnumber men just because they are seen as most responsible for water, hygiene and sanitation at a household level.

Training participants pose for a group picture.

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.

Onsite training at the spring protection system to demonstrate its management and maintenance.

We brought poster paper and 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. And since we were at the landowner's home, we could easily walk to the spring and take the group over water point management and maintenance.

Hand-washing was one of our most important demonstrations; we taught how to build hand-washing stations out of accessible and affordable materials, how you should always have a cleaning agent like soap and ash, and to follow the ten steps for thorough washing. Everyone had a chance to practice!

Hand-washing Demonstration

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 finish building walls and roofs for privacy.

45-year-old Florence was one of the sanitation platform beneficiaries. She told us, "Now I believe that God answers prayers! Gone are the days when we suffered and awaited our political leaders to assist. Personally, I suffered a life of humiliation as a wife due to lack of a latrine. I dreaded the days when visitors will come visiting, as my toilet was old and risky to use. Now I am proud, and confidently can welcome visitors in my home."

This family now has a safe place to use the bathroom; children and the elderly no longer have to fear losing balance and falling through dangerous wooden slats.

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). Oftentimes, a community will put funds together in a kitty to order sand and gravel from construction workers. However, these community members spent no coin in buying sand, ballast or hard core. Instead, men hammered down the rocks in their area to make ballast and hard core. The same men harvested sand in the nearby Isasala River, while women helped transport these materials to the construction site. Accommodation and food for the artisan were provided and a few people volunteered their services as laborers.

Large stones that local men delivered to the construction site.

Community members here were so helpful to our team as we built the spring protection system, so everything went according to plan.

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 excavation team!

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.

Alaxine Namusasi was there with many other women, men and children to fetch their first containers of clean water. "I am very, very grateful because you have solved the problem that we had !" she exclaimed. Mrs. Hellen Muhonja added, "This spring is our gold! We are going to do our best to make sure it well maintained. After waiting for that long period, can’t allow anyone to misuse it!"

August, 2017: Hondolo Community Project Underway

Hondolo Community will soon have a clean, safe source of water thanks to your donation. Community members have been drinking contaminated water from Musila 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.