This project is part of Bridge Water Project's program in Western Kenya. What follows is direct from them:
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Tumaini primary school is a registered public school that was started in 2007. Literacy For All (LIFA), a Non-governmental organization that has since moved its programs to Mt. Elgon, started the school. The organization handed over the school to ACCESS, another Non-governmental organization, in 2009. The school was further handed over to the government of Kenya in May 2014.
The school enrolls pupils starting from early childhood centre (E.C.D) to grade 8. It has also a unit for children with special needs. The school has a single permanent square block consisting of one stream of classrooms, teachers’ staffroom, administration block, and a library. Due to the limited number of classrooms and increasing enrollment, the school's library has been converted into a classroom.
The proposed rehab water project is a hand dug well done in the year 2007 by Literacy for All with an aim of providing quality water in the school and also to improve sanitation and hygiene status. The well records a total depth of 60ft with static water level 20ft at the time of assessment. The borehole was installed with NIRA pump which failed to function due to lack of availability of spare parts in the local market in the year 2012. The borehole site had been adequately secured with a barbed wire fence and a gate to control access. The water committee appealed to Bridge Water Project to intervene by rehabilitating the borehole.
THE SCHOOL POPULATION
Tumaini primary school has a population of 620 pupils comprising of 390 boys and 230 girls. The school has an additional 76 No. of learners in early childhood unit. The school has 21 special learners under the special education program. The teaching staff consists of 12 in number. Seven teachers are employed by the government and five are employed by the Parents Teachers Association. There is also one security guard and one cook.
(Editor's Note: While this many people may have access on any given day, realistically a single water source can only support a population of 350-500 people. This community would be a good candidate for a second project in the future so adequate water is available. To learn more, click here.)
CURRENT WATER SOURCE
Tumaini primary school gets water from an unprotected well and practices rainwater harvesting during the rainy season. Pupils lose approximately 1 hour of their typical school day to search for water from the nearby spring especially during the dry season. The school had installed two plastic tanks with a capacity of 5000 litres each. No disinfection was applied both to the harvested rain water and that sourced from the spring hence exposing the pupils to consumption of contaminated water. Due to this there were many illnesses among the children due to water borne illnesses.
HYGIENE AND SANITATION
Limited access to a reliable water supply had adversely compromised hygiene and sanitation standards at the school. The school had four pit latrines and one urinal for boys, four pit latrines for girls and two pit latrines for the staff, which are washed 3 times per week. The school pit latrines which had been sited close to the classrooms were stinking since they were not cleaned regularly. There is no hand washing stations at the school.
The schools’ roof is dusty hence prone to contaminate the rain water harvested. The school has a secure solid waste collection point and the waste was regularly burnt to reduce accumulation.
The school has a kitchen and next to it there is a dish rack for drying of utensils. The kitchen was in fair sanitation condition. Most pupils come to school barefoot because of abject poverty in the community According to the school head teacher, malaria, infestations with intestinal worms, and jiggers are common among the school pupils. All of these diseases are communicable hence the risk of transmission remains high due to the poor hygiene and sanitation standards at the school.
ASSESSING THE NEED
The burden of poor hygiene and sanitation at the school is aggrevated due to limited access to reliable water supply and hygiene information. Current water sources for the school are constrained by long distance and their risk of contamination. No promotion of hygiene and sanitation had ever been carried out in the school. Access to a reliable water supply was among the top priorities of the school. Rehabilitation of the water project is key in enhancing access to permanent and clean water at the school. The multi-faceted intervention approach which includes sanitation and hygiene promotion will go a long way in initiating behavior change among the pupils at the school and in their homes, hence indeed the entire community.
PROJECT BENEFICIARIES
If the proposed Tumaini primary school water project is rehabilitated, the pupils, teachers and the entire community will be the immediate beneficiaries.
SCHOOL MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
The proposed Tumaini primary school borehole was under the school management committee. The committee was elected by parents at the school and is in charge of both infrastructural and non-infrastructural development at the school.
HYGIENE AND SANITATION TRAINING
The training on hygiene and sanitation in Tumaini Primary School was attended by the standard 7 pupils so that they can pass the message to the other pupils.
More key issues were discussed in the relation to the base-line survey carried out prior to the initiation of the project. The training began by allowing the pupils to sing a song in their local language relating to cleanliness, then introductions between the BWP facilitators and the pupils.
Water is essential but through it we get Diseases like cholera, typhoid and diarrhea if it’s contaminated and consumed directly. One way that water could be contaminated is the way and methods used while fetching. Other reasons for contamination could be the situation of the storage containers or, the water could also be contaminated at the source. With these issues in mind, the pupils discussed, with the help of their facilitators, more about fetching and the cleanliness of water. During these discussions, it was noted that the pupils did not understand how water should be fetched to avoid recontamination either at the source or from the storage containers. The pupils therefore learned that water for drinking should be kept away and separate and that the containers in which they store water should be always cleaned. They also learned the effects of bathing in the running river.
Identifying the problem
This tool was used for the pupils to identify the problems that would be easy for them to know the common sanitation and hygiene practices that impacted positively or negatively their health. Therefore the children were provided with a set of posters which showed good and bad practices. The children were therefore required to arrange the pictures into two categories i.e. (I) pictures showing good practices and (II) pictures showing bad practices. The activity was well done as the children could differentiate the practices.
Analyzing the problem
The next step was for the pupils to show by the use of drawing arrows how some common hygiene diseases are transmitted leading to sickness. As the training went on, the children learned on how to practice good behaviors in relation to hygiene and sanitation. They learned this through:
- Blocking of the routes of germs
- Hand washing exercise
- The importance of using latrine
As the discussion on water went on, the BWP facilitators discussed with the pupils the diseases that can be spread through unsafe water and their symptoms, transmission and how the diseases can be prevented and elaborated to the pupils the importance of using latrine.
After undergoing the training, the pupils promised to improve their hygiene and sanitation standards both at school and their respective homes. During this activity, the pupils discussed the consequences of a lack of proper hand washing and the time to wash hands. As a matter of fact, the children did not remember to use soap because of ignorance and negative attitude towards hand washing. The Deputy of the school promised to install the hand washing stations with immediate effect.
PAD CONSTRUCTION
The Tumaini pad construction included the excavation of the whole pad well area, removal of the slab to fish out the dirt and roots that were growing in. Then the process of laying of the bricks, mixing the concrete with cement and plastering.
FLUSHING
The flushing was done to Tumaini Primary School to ensure that the stagnant water was flushed out to enable the recharge to take place. Thereafter the chlorination of the recharged water was done to ensure the water is safe and clean for use.
PUMP INSTALLATION & HANDING OVER
An Afridev pump was installed after the chlorination process. The well was fitted with a new afridev pump at 18 metres. 4” UPVC pipes each measuring 3 meters were used during the installation. Stainless steel rods each measuring 3 meters were also used to avoid rusting that will contaminate water.
After the pump installation the well was handed over to the teachers and pupils of Tumaini Primary School. The school thanked BWP and The Water Project for providing clean and safe water and promised to improve their Hygiene and Sanitation standards that will bring great impact in their academic performance as a school.
