|
Completion date: 09/23/2015 Number served: 175 175 people from Mumuli Village, Kenya received access to safe water when this spring protection project was completed. Before we protected the spring, it was contaminated with dangerous bacteria including E. coli, and thus was the source of many waterborne illnesses. Few people could afford firewood or chlorine to boil or disinfect the water. Some resorted to going to the forest to gather firewood which was not only unsafe, but also illegal. If caught, they received a costly fine. Now, as the project report states, “The community is already enjoying and rejoicing over their supply of safe, clean water."  
0 Comments
Completion date: 8/25/2015 Number served: 208 We gave 208 people safe drinking water with the completion of the Paolo Spring Protection project, which serves the community of Handidi Village, Kenya. Villagers had been drinking from a spring contaminated by surface runoff, animals watering in it, and people stepping into the spring as they fetched water. As a result, people suffered from waterborne diseases such as typhoid, cholera, and dysentary. That all changed in August when the Paulo Spring was protected.   The Bweseletse Spring protection project serves 505 people in 57 households. It was completed on May 29, 2014. The people of Bweseletse had been drawing water from an unprotected spring, which was also used to water domestic animals. As a result the community suffered from outbreaks of waterborne illnesses such as typhoid, dysentery, diarrhea, and amoeba related illnesses. They spent a lot of money treating these illnesses. One community member, Alice, commented about all of the money she spent treating her family for Typhoid. This money, she said, could have been used to pay school fees or to boost her poultry and vegetable business.  The following is an excerpt from the project report: “We are excited to report that a water project has been completed in the village of Bweseletse, Kenya. A spring has been protected so that it is a safe source of clean water, sanitation platforms have been constructed, and training has been received on sanitation and hygiene, all of which will help stop the spread of disease within this community.”  The Our Lady of Peace Girl's Secondary School well project was completed on January 16, 2014. Our Lady of Peace is a boarding school in western Kenya with 230 students and 36 teachers and staff. This project is a supplementary well.  The following is an excerpt from the project report: “Mrs Obilo was overwhelmed since she said that the presence of the well was a great achievement for the school and she feels proud that this happened while she is the principle of the school. She also said that the presence of water in the school will save time for the girls and they will be able to focus more on their studies. Also their health will be greatly improved with a clean water supply and they hope that this will hence lead to an improved performance in schools. One of the biggest problems the school has experienced was the decline in new student enrollment because of lack of a clean water supply. Parents had been avoiding the school because of this issue but now it is expected that school enrollment will increase this year and the years to come."   The Kymugenyi well project has been completed! The following is from a report we received from our drilling partner: “The community faces one common problem: a lack of clean water. People are currently fetching contaminated water from open sources and small ponds. Drinking this water is highly dangerous as feces from animals and humans enter the water after rainstorms. Many people suffer from diseases such as worms, diarrhea, skin diseases. Especially for children under five, diarrhea is a deadly disease."  The Kyamugenyi Village chairman expressed appreciation for the new well: “We are very grateful that our village receives a water source...," says the village chairman. “This water will change our lives. Our children will never believe where we used to fetch water from!"  The following is from a report we received from the drilling team in Kisula Mafumi: "We also visited the traditional well and found children collecting water from it. Some were balancing the 20 liter jerrycans on their heads and others had come with bicycles carrying at least four jerrycans on them. We sympathized with them for carrying all that weight of dirty water to their homes. It was like carrying diarrhea to their homes."    The following is from a report we received from the drilling team in Busambwa village: “I am proud to report that tonight the people of Busambwa will be drinking safe water! It's fantastic to think that for the first time mothers won't be jeopardizing the health of their children through the most basic act of giving them water. There were many villagers present for the commissioning, who sung their appreciation at the site of their new water. A great day."
  Upon completion of the Bwola Village well, we received a project report which included accounts from two people who described what life was like before they had access to clean water and how grateful they are for the well funded by the St. Thérèse Foundation. Their descriptions are very typical of how people live without a clean water source.  “My name is Ayaa Ester, and I’m 62 years old. We‘ve had no clean water from our village. The only water is from Lagwel, which is located three kilometers from our village. The major problem would not be the long distance, but when we get there for water, we are limited to only two water cans per family, which is not enough to sustain our families. I give thanks to Water Harvest International, and to the Therese Foundation. This well will help us so much and will reduce the stress, struggle, and fighting for water. May the almighty God bless you all and continue to work through you to solve the problems of us." - Ayaa Ester  "I would like to thank God very much for answering our prayers. We really suffered so much for not having clean water which is safe like the one of the borehole. I was born from this village in 1954 and all of my time has been spent from this same village. This village currently has over seventy households with a total population of 600 people both young and old.
During the rainy season, we would get our water from the hand dug open wells, which are not safe. Unfortunately, the wells would dry up during the dry season, forcing us to move longer distances to look for water. Also, it would be overcrowded because of the whole respective village population. People in this village normally spent sleepless nights. They woke up at dawn and move tens of kilometers in search for water and came back late, hence three quarters of the time was spent on searching for water than on other normal domestic responsibilities. Livestock equally shared the available water points during rainy seasons since most of them are raised on free range system. Worst of all is when they leave their waste into the water point which is dangerous for human health. Lagwel stream is the only water point that most populations come in all seasons and it is for all uses, (drinking, livestock, farm, swimming and etc.). As a result of the dirty water source for this community, the village was stormed with different water related diseases. We were facing it hard. Our children, men, and women were always getting sick, giving us a difficult life in this village." - Pastor Anja Mathew We funded two wells in Minakulu Bobbi, Uganda!
 |
Archives
December 2021
Categories |
RSS Feed