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Completed: September 2021 Serves: 2,000 people “Apart from saving our children, especially those attending Kanonko Parents Primary School, and women from the long walk of 4.5 kilometers looking for water, you have also saved the entire community and the neighboring villages to use clean and safe water. So, in addition to reducing the distance for the people of Kanonko village, you have also improved our bodily wellbeing, for water is life . . . We as Kanonko community are so blessed to have this borehole within our midst." – Excerpt from village chairperson's speech at borehole dedication ceremony  Children collecting water from previous water source
Completed: June 2021 Serves: 420 people “This is a great chance and change in this community of ours. We have been facing difficult moments, especially when we are in school. Most of us come from poor backgrounds leading to absenteeism and poor performance as children spend most of their time looking for water and becoming sick due to the unsafe water we take.” – Elizabeth, primary school student  Elizabeth
Completed: February 2021 Serves: 350 people “The process of drawing water is difficult. The spring is open, frogs keep on jumping inside, and you can easily draw water with frogs in it.” – Belinda, a local teenager The dedication ceremony was described this way: “The community members sang songs of praise and did dances to glorify God for enabling them to have their spring protected. Happiness, thanksgiving, and appreciation were the order of the day.”  Completed: December 2020 Serves: 400 people Despite its poor water quality, Busuku Spring was one of the most reliable year-round water sources in the area, so there was little choice in using its water. Lines developed at the spring every day as people had to wait for the mud in the water to settle between their turns. Crowded conditions often led to conflict. “My dream has finally come true and we shall now have clean water.” – Rose Shangu “I am so happy that I will no longer fear slipping and falling at the spring, especially during the rainy season.” – Jacklyne, primary school student   Completed: September 2020 Serves: 210 people “We shall not waste our precious time as in the past. Very little time will be taken to draw clean water, and that will allow us to have time to do our [homework] revisions. With this protected spring, we are assured of good health." – Ben, a teenager in the community Completed: September 2020 Serves: 140 people “I and my family will take clean, safe water, which will mean we will not suffer from water-related diseases. We will save money that we normally spend in the hospital when looking for treatment. The money will be used to better our lives." – Charity Ingosi, a 21-year-old farmer in the community    Completed: November 2019 Serves: 420 people Mothers used to worry about their children’s safety when they collected water. Now, community members can’t believe drawing water from the protected spring is so quick and easy. In the video below, members of the community express their gratitude and joy. In the second song, they sing that they are standing strong and nobody can threaten them since they now have a voice: “The safe water is here with us.”   Completed: September 2019 Serves: 210 people Drinking water from this unprotected spring claimed the lives of many community members due to outbreaks of typhoid, diarrhea, and bilharzia. “The little money we get mostly goes to the hospital to treat our loved ones. If this spring is protected, all this menace will be curbed and our community will heal." — Mr. Mambili   Completed: February 2019 Serves: 210 people “We shall see no more disgusting, dirty water which was full of tadpoles and some frogs. We as a community had suffered a lot because of the dirty water which was there before. No one since I was born has ever taken an initiative to help us protect this spring. I am glad we as a community are going to get access to safe drinking water, and I believe there will be minimal reports about waterborne diseases because of the help you people have done to us.” — Mr. Soita   Date completed: 2/2019 Number served: 214 people “You have really done a great job for this community. I do not have anything to give you that would be equal to the change that you have brought to us.” — Mrs. Atuka   Date completed: 11/2018 Number served: 280 “You are God-sent angels. Many have had false promises of protecting this spring and all have been in vain. We really thank God who brought you here, for we are really saved. The joy we have for clean water is like that of a mother for having the safe delivery of her first baby. We promise to take good care of this so as it can serve us and even our great-grandchildren.” — Margaret Musioma    Completion date: 10/2018 Number served: 455 This community believed witchcraft was the source of their health complications. In addition to protecting the spring, the community members were taught how germs are actually spread and what people can do to protect themselves and others. “Many are the times when almost everyone in the community was sick [with] either typhoid or diarrhea, forcing them to use most of the resources around to cater for medication.” — Erick, a farmer  The water source before the spring was protected   Completion date: 10/2018 Number served: 140 people “Most people in this community have suffered from waterborne diseases. Looking at the standard of living, we are not even able to meet the required money for treatment. Instead, people use alcohol to treat typhoid which is risky for their life." - Rose Mastiza “I will personally champion for the protection of Mukabane Spring . . . I am disabled due to polio and my people can also lose their lives due to outbreaks resulting from drinking dirty and contaminated water.” - Pauline, a young girl from the community. Implementing this project was of great impact in this community and particularly in the life of Pauline.    Pauline
Completion date: 10/2018 Number served: 322 “I’m truly witnessing a miracle. We have been having safe water shortage[s] for decades . . . We are now happy and settled in our minds knowing that water is the least of our problems.” — Gladys Tembo.  This stick floor is typical of the unsanitary, unsafe floors used in most latrines. Since people have been known to fall through these surfaces, many people choose to relieve themselves in the bushes instead.  Each spring protection project includes five concrete sanitation platforms, like this one, for latrine floors.  Completion date: 11/29/2017 Number served: 385 “Poverty is indeed a thorn in our flesh, and thus without proper assistance from well-wishers like you, people die premature deaths before they accomplish their goals in life. People in this community have suffered for a long time due to lack of clean and safe water. Their health has really deteriorated, leading to underdevelopment in the area . . . [W]e are so grateful for this project in our community. We thank God, and we believe that it will go a long way in improving our livelihoods.” -Mr. John Lukoye (for whom the spring is named)   Completion date: 11/29/2017 Number served: 240 “It has really taken God’s hands for this spring to come to completion. Indeed we have suffered for long of waterborne diseases through consuming water from this spring. I believe now we are free from those diseases, it’s only us to practice what we have been taught today. Thank you for touching lives of people.” -Village Elder Francis Lusich   Completion date: April, 2017 Number served: 200 “We pray to God that He always gives you joy and the ability to help people in need.” -From a letter from grateful people from Pontieba   Completion date: 9/15/2016 Number served: 930 St. Theresa Musaa is a public primary school located in the "slums" of Kakamega, Kenya. The school had received a closure notice from the ministry of health due to its poor sanitary conditions. St. Theresa had no water source whatsoever, insufficient number of latrines, and no hand washing stations. Students carried their own water to school, which often caused illnesses such as typhoid, cholera, diarrhea, and stomach aches. Two 30,000-liter rainwater catchment tanks have been installed at the school. In addition, new latrines and hand washing stations have been constructed.   The teachers and students are overjoyed to have clean water and sanitation facilities. The video above shows them singing in celebration. This traditional song is sung by people who have gone into competition or battle and brought victory back home. The victory, in this case, is victory over a lack of water and sanitation facilities at the school. (Note: Maji means water in Swahili.)
Completion date: 8/15/2016 Number served: 500 “During our initial visit, it was obvious there were tadpoles and frog eggs (in) the spring!" - Excerpt from project report Imagine collecting water from a source where you can see tadpoles swimming and frog eggs in the water. This water was also contaminated with dangerous bacteria due to animals watering in the spring and by surface runoff in an area where there was open defecation. Thankfully, the people in Endeli now have a clean, safe water source! The Walibese spring protection project also included extensive sanitation and hygiene training as well as the construction of five sanitation platforms for latrines.   The video above shows people at the Walibese Spring water project thanking the St. Thérèse Foundation.
Completion date: 11/2015 Number served: 165 Most people fetched water from open sources which were shared with wildlife. Waterborne illnesses were rampant in the village.    Completion date: 11/17/2015 Number served: 300 The project report describes the village's water crisis prior to the new well: “This filthy water which residents drink is said to be the leading source of waterborne-related diseases among the clean and safe water-starved residents of the village." The village now has clean and safe water.  Water source before the new well   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."   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.”  |
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