TOGETHER WE CAN BUILD
Build a World Where we All HAVE ACESS TO CLEAN WATER AND SUSTAINABLE HYGIENE
Who We Are
We are a Non-governmental organization in Kenya enhancing access to safe, convenient and reliable #wash services in rural western Kenya.
We ensure access to Safe drinking water and sanitation is within reach to deserving communities particularly women and girls who often disproportionately suffer to collect water. We believe safe water is medicine and an antidote to many preventable illness specifically in children.
What We Do
01.
— We Find & Fund
We believe every community has the ability to enhance their quality of life.
We look for communities that are really in need of safe drinking water and try to find long-term solution to their problem.
02.
— We Build Networks
we believe in coming together as an organization with other organizations with the same interest in place so as to provide a sustainable solution to communities in need of safe drinking water and sanitation.
03.
— We Strengthen
We believe in giving strength to communities and showing them that together we can do more and be each others keeper.
04.
— We Educate
We provide knowledge on how to operate the handpumps and boreholes to community members and how it is beneficial to them so as to create literacy among them.
05.
— We Provide Care
We provide maintenance to the pumps and boreholes in the communities to avoid failure of our projects and have them remain in standard.
06.
— We Consult
We consult with our partners and ensure we are together in any project that we are working on together to try and bring the spirit of togetherness so as to achieve more goals.
Impact Stories
MADIRA GIRLS WATER PROJECT
VIHIGA COUNTY
Our team recently paid a courtesy call to Madira girls high school in vihiga county and found the water running. This was an operation and maintenance activity and turned into a reliable source of water for the school and the community.
We received a call to go and check on their newly drilled borehole which could barely pump 100litres of water before it went dry. During this assessment we found out the new borehole had gravely sited up affecting its yield.
The water being pump would barely sustain kitchen activities and the students activities around the school. Distressed, the school administration was forced to purchase water from Amatsi water company of vihiga county government which was very expensive in the long run. our team noted that their was a spring downstream although within the school premises. It was located deep down a steep valley making access a challenge. The spring was also surrounded by woodlots and thickets of bushes making it not only difficult to access but also unsafe for the students.
We proposed to the school that we protect the spring and install a submersible pump. The school had no budget for a new capital investment but they had raw materials in place within its premises. The school had 2 10000litre tanks mounted on top of a concreate tower previously connected to a community water project that had seized working for months cutting the school off from water services. We agreed to classify the project as an operation and maintenance activity and utilize the already existing water infrastructure in the school. The school provided raw materials along side with the community while we provided technical expertise and labor. Project components entailed spring protection excavation and construction of an underground storage tank, electrical ,plumbing works and pump installation. The work took a record of three weeks to complete. Since installation of the water project the school has reliable water and no major maintenance issue has been carried out.
Apart from these we also ensured the school also harvests rain water by ensuring they have good gutters. Water is the foundational to all human success, and we proudly associate with the well being of Madira girls success and the community at large.
MAVUSI SECONDARY SCHOOL WATER PROJECT KAKAMEGA COUNTY
Based on our past track record on drilling, equipping and maintaining boreholes and shallow wells in western Kenya ,we were contracted by Mavusi secondary school to drill and develop their school borehole.
The school had been relying on a protected shallow well installed in the 90s’ jointly shared with the primary school section resulting in congestion and also a danger to the students health’s. The situation had become dire during the dry spell and when the handpump broke down.
The scope of works included drilling and developing a borehole according to specifications of the hydrological survey report ,fabrication of a 6M tower for holding 2 No 10,000l storage tanks ,electrical and pluping works with a submersible water pump.
The project took three weeks to complete. The yield of the borehole was approximately 3 cubic meters per hour providing sufficient water for the schools and also serving the neighboring community.
To minimize premature breakdown, we automated the pumping system which works perfectly to date. Since commissioning and handing over the project to the school the water is still running in the school.
Water problem is now a thing of the past at Mavusi secondary school and by extension Mavusi primary school.
KHALAKHA COMMUNITY WATER PROJECT IN KAKAMEGA COUNTY
Khalakha Community Water project is one among the projects we have partnered with Barasa Foundation in Kakamega County.
At the time of our intervention in 2021, the well that was once protected and installed with a hand pump was now open and the community was drawing water using a bucket tired to a rope.
The well was installed in 1985 through a Kenya Finland Wash Partnership Program (KEFINCO) and installed with a NIRA 85 hand pump. The pump served the community well with minimal repairs until its catastrophic failure n 1999. Select members of the community had undergone operation and maintenance training of the pump hence they were able to fix break-downs with ease.
However, due to lack of a supply chain of the NIRA 85, accessing spares to replace worn of parts became a nightmare. Left with no other choice, the community was forced to unstill the pump and resorted to drawing water using a bucket and a rope despite the associated unhygienic risks.
Our intervention entailed retraining the community on good hygiene habits, training of the water user committee on good governance, cleaning and disinfecting the well, construction of a well pad, installation of a Afridev hand pump which has a steady local supply chain and water quality analysis.
At the time of commissioning and handing over the well to the community, a total of 45 households were targeted to benefit from the project. To date Khalakha Community is still accessing water from the protected shallow well.
The past water challenges in Khalakha community is a reflection of the everyday reality for many communities in Western Kenya. Many communities are stuck with failed NIR 85 hand pumps which no longer serve the purpose, denying many people access to safe drinking water. Together we can reverse this trend.
Partners
