This project is a part of our shared program with Safe Water and Sustainable Hygiene Initiative (SAWASHI). Our team is pleased to directly share the below report (edited for clarity, as needed).
Welcome to the Community
The Lurambi Community is one of many communities in a highly-populated area. Most of Lurambi's people are peasant farmers. They tend to small scale farms where they grow maize, vegetables, potatoes, bananas and sugarcane. Most of the children in this community attend one of the two public primary schools, Timbito or Namanja Primary.
Women here are the family members primarily responsible for household work and taking care of young children, while men take on the role of breadwinner. Most people here are religious, attending churches from different denominations such as Seventh Day Adventist, Catholic, Friends Quaker and PEFA Church Fellowship.
The assistant chief recognized the water crisis in his community and quickly applied for a project. He leads an approximate population of 300 people from 24 different households (this is because extended families live together!). Below are the details we gathered on our first visit to his community.
Water Situation
Lurambi Community relies on an unprotected well that is open to contamination. This is because the well has no pump with which to safely draw water. Instead, there is a hatch opening that can somewhat protect the well when it is not in use. However, when the hatch is opened, there is no good way to draw water. Locals decided to tie a bucket to the end of a rope, lowering it inside to pull up well water. When not in use, this bucket rests on the dirty ground.
There's a possibility that at one point in the 1980s or 90s, this well had a pump. Since then, it has disappeared, leaving just a concrete slab with an opening! Nobody in the community had any information about when or by whom the well was dug.
Women and children are most often seen at the hatch with their own plastic containers, which they occasionally clean by friction with sand and leaves. Once this water reaches home, it is separated into different containers by use. Drinking water is normally stored in clay pots with covers, because earthenware keeps the water cooler. Water for washing and cleaning is normally kept in the container with which the water was fetched. Before drinking, a person will make sure that all visible debris is filtered out of the water. However, this doesn't make the water safe for drinking; community members often complain of cases of typhoid and suffer from constant diarrhea. This is a terrible issue, because diarrhea dehydrates the body, and the body will crave more of this dirty water!
The well in Lurambi Community needs to be protected with a pump.
Sanitation Situation
Over half of the households in Lurambi have some for of pit latrine. The average latrine is made of mud with an iron roof. Personal hygiene was not observed to be a big deal here, because less than a quarter of these same homes had a bathing room. It's important to have a place to wash up in private!
We couldn't find any hand-washing stations in the entire area, and around half of the households had helpful sanitation tools like dish racks and clotheslines. Since most practice farming, families collect and then sort their garbage and waste at the edge of their farms. Biodegradable materials will be turned into compost to help boost the soil's fertility.
We noticed that a good percentage of the population has some degree of knowledge on proper hygiene and sanitation, manifest in dish racks and clotheslines. Disease will still be an issue until everyone's on board, though. Hygiene and sanitation training will sensitize the entire community to the need for good health practices, and motivate them to encourage and support neighbors to do the same. An old farmer named Sarah Wafula said, "We appreciate you for considering our community to have this project to be upgraded. At least we will be sure with the safety of our water point. Also, your training on hygiene and sanitation will be of great impact in our day to day activities, because most of us forget this important issues!" Check out the "See Photos & Video" tab to find a picture of Sarah.
Plans: Hygiene and Sanitation Training
Community members will be trained for two days on applicable hygiene and sanitation practices. The facilitator will use the PHAST (Participatory Hygiene and Sanitation Training) method to teach about topics like: Importance of Using Latrines, Good and Bad Hygiene Behavior, Water Treatment, Water Storage, Food Preparation and Storage, Disease Transmission Routes, Blocking the Spread of Disease, and last but not least, Hand-Washing!
Training will result in the formation of a water user committee which will oversee, manage, and maintain the rehabilitated well. They will also encourage every household to build new sanitation facilities like latrines, bathing rooms, dish racks, and clotheslines.
Plans: Hand-Washing Stations
Two hand-washing stations are scheduled for delivery by the time well rehabilitation is complete. Training participants will be taught the steps to effective hand-washing, and of the importance of using a cleaning agent such as soap or ash. Water user committee members will also check that there is water inside the containers on a daily basis.
Plans: Well Rehabilitation
The community affirms that this well has sufficient water that will supply them throughout all seasons. The well has a total depth of nine meters and a brick lining that protects the well from collapse and keeps the water from siltation.
The rehabilitation process will include material collection, pad reconstruction, flushing, test pumping, water quality testing, water treatment, and then pump installation.
With this well protected, community members will suffer less and less from waterborne disease. If they practice what they learn in hygiene and sanitation training, the will suffer less and less from communicable disease. Less disease means less money spent on medical treatment, and more time spent earning a living.
Thank You for noticing Lurambi Community's need for new knowledge and clean water that unlocks potential!
