SHIPALA COMMUNITY WATER PROJECT REHABILITATION
- VILLAGE : SHIPALA
- SUB-LOCATION : SHIPALA
- LOCATION : MATIOLI
- DIVISION : CENTRAL KABRAS
- SUB COUNTY : KAKAMEGA NORTH
- COUNTY : KAKAMEGA
COMMUNITY BACKGROUND
Shipala Community comprises of people who are small scale farmers and most of the activities carried mainly depend on water. The proposed Shipala Community water project was drilled in the year 1988 by the Kenya Finland Western water supply program (KFWWSP) with an aim of enabling the Shipala Community members to have access to quality water for their domestic use and also to improve sanitation and hygiene of the entire community. The well was drilled to a total depth of 52M cased by steel 4” inch casings. Thereafter an affridev pump was installed which served for long till 2012 when its parts were stolen by unknown person. When the community members heard of BWP operations of rehabilitating the wells in the region, they visited BWP office requesting for rehabilitation of their community water point.
NB: The community members together with the administrative office have taken a serious obligation to ensure that the borehole will be secured once it is rehabilitated.
CURRENT WATER SOURCE
Shipala community fetch water from Malakha protected spring which is 700 metres away The water from the Malakha stream accords a turbidity value of 82 below the WHO recommended parameters. The stream is seasonal, during dry season, the community members are forced to wake early in the morning to fetch water. The community members have been diagnosed of typhoid and diarrhea which is a result of drinking contaminated water.
POPULATION
The community of Shipala has 150 households in each having 7 to 12 people thus an approximate population 1800 – 2000 people. (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.)
HYGIENE & SANITATION
The hygiene and sanitation condition of this community is not good, since some households still practice open defecation which has affected the health of children, women and even men. A big ratio of community members don’t practice hand washing.
There’s need to conduct a thorough training on proper hygiene and sanitation practices. This will bring a positive impact to the health of the community members.
ACCESSING THE NEED
There’s need to rehabilitate proposed Shipala community water project so that the community members can access clean and quality water for their domestic use and also improve their Hygiene and sanitation.
WATER COMMITTEE
The water committee was formed and therefore more of capacity building will be done by BWP staff.
PHASE 1: 19th may-22th
HYGIENE AND SANITATION TRAINING.
Being a community that is comprised of peasant farmers who practice small-scale farmers, Shipala community depends on crops such as maize, beans, vegetables, and sugarcane. Both men and women play a major role in ensuring that the hygiene and sanitation condition of their families is good. Young people in the community are also concerned with the hygiene and sanitation of their community.
Most of the diseases that were experienced in this community were water and sanitation related diseases. The diseases have had an impact on their health. In these case, water and sanitation related diseases included;
a) Diarrhea.
b) Skin and eye diseases.
c) Worm and lice infestation.
d) Malaria
e) Typhoid.
f) Cholera.
To help the community members address the outbreaks of the water and sanitation related diseases, training was conducted, through focus group discussions and experiments.
Important aspects of good hygiene and sanitation practices that were dealt with included;
- safe disposal of feces and other wastes:
- Have young children always use a potty, washable diapers or disposable diapers.
- Always dispose of the feces in a sanitary latrine or toilet.
- Always wash the potty or washable diapers with soap and ensure that the wastewater from washing ends up in a sanitary facility.
- Consistently put disposable diapers in covered garbage containers that are part of a solid waste disposal system that keeps the diapers out of the household and community environment.
- Hand washing practice by the use of soap or ash at critical times:
- Always use correct hand washing techniques .i.e. Rub at least three times, especially fingers; use a cleansing agent; use dripping or running water if possible; air dry.
- Always wash at critical moments, i.e. after going to the bathroom, contacting feces, and before eating, feeding, or cooking.
- Food preparation and its safety:
- Always peel or wash fresh food before eating.
- Always heat or reheat cooked foods at a high temperature shortly before eating.
- Wash food preparation surface with soap and water.
- Never consume animal products that have been improperly prepared for consumption.
- Keep flies off food.
- Consumption of clean and safe water:
- Treat all water used for drinking and cooking by chlorination, filtration or boiling to reduce pathogens.
- Always cover water-storage containers or use narrow neck containers.
- Extract water from a tap or with a clean utensil such as dipper.
- Place containers where young children cannot get into it.
- Always use different (clean) vessel to transfer water for drinking.
- Prevent anyone from putting his/her hands into the drinking water vessel, especially children.
At the end of the training, the Shipala community members realized that it is because of poor practices of hygiene and sanitation lead to the outbreak of waterborne diseases. The poor practices include;
i. Drinking dirty water.
ii. Open defecation practices.
iii. Lack and poor hand washing practices.
iv. Poor preparation and storage of food.
PHASE 2:
25th may-29th
PAD CONSTRUCTION
The Bridge Water Project construction team mobilized to the site with the help of the community members as well.
Even though it was raining heavily, the workers had to ensure that the work was well done and completed.
The community members stretched their helping hand where needed and provided food for the workers.
The work was well done and the pad was left to cure for four days. There after the pump will be installed and finally handed over to the community.
PHASE 3:
15th June-19th June
PUMP INSTALLATION AND HANDING OVER
After the Shipala community well pad had gone through the curing stage, the service team mobilized to the site for pump installation. Men and women from this community availed themselves to the site to give any support if need be.
The community members organized meals for the service team. The pump installation process was well completed and thereafter handing over was done.
Women sung songs of joy as they received the rehabilitated well. They narrated of how, for a long time since the well was vandalized, they were forced to drink water from other sources of which they claimed was not safe for human consumption.
Men on the other hand, appreciated the water project organization for rehabilitating the well since it will now have a great impact on the production of farm produces and livestock.
The rehabilitated well is anticipated to play a big role in improving the hygiene and sanitation of this community.
THANKS TO THE WATER PROJECT FOR MAKING THIS HAPPEN!!!!!
