Clean Water & Sanitation for Kenyan Primary School

Dear Supporters,

Greetings from Kenya Rainwater Association!

Since our last update, there have been some positive steps forward in securing further funds for the GlobalGiving-supported KRA Matuiku Primary School water project. This update covers our work underway on the installation of the 50,000-litre water tank and a heartfelt thank you letter for the latrines and plastic tank installation, from the Head Teacher of the school, Mr. John Ndegwa.

New funds secured for 50,000-litre water tank

You might remember in our last update that we had used up all the money donated to the project with the completion of the latrines. Our plans to implement the rest of the project (50,000-litre water tank, 50,000-litre farm pond, and a drip irrigation system ) were on hold as we awaited more funding...

However within weeks of completion of the latrines, we received an unexpected donation from the Global Giving UK site to the tune of £581! The Global Giving Horn of Africa Drought and Famine Relief Fund had selected our project as one of the beneficiaries of a special disbursement of funding! Read more here: http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/africa-drought-famine-relief/updates/

A complete surprise, this donation has been used to help buy materials (cement and steel bars) for the construction of the 50,000-litre tank. On top of that, we have managed to secure funding from one of our long-standing partners, H20 for Life, a US-based charity which matches schools in the US, with schools in developing countries. The pupils raise money for their chosen partner school through school initiatives such as baking sales, walks for water and quizzes. Read more here: http://www.h2oforlifeschools.org/

As a result of these two funding successes, we are now well on our way to completing the water tank. Made of ferro-cement and reinforced by a steel framework, the tank will long out-live the standard plastic tanks available in Kenya. In the next update, you will see photos of the construction work underway at the school.

Thank you from the Head Teacher

Three months on from the handover of the latrines to the school, Mr. John Ndegwa, Head Teacher of Matuiku Primary School, sent in a letter thanking us and our donors (yourselves!) for the good work at the school so far. Read his letter below:

The Head Teacher, teachers, Senior Management Committee. and the whole school community, take this opportunity to thank KRA for soliciting funds from the Global Giving challenge to undertake the following projects:

1. Four units gender segregated latrines for girls and two for teachers
2. Installation of a 10,000 litre tank

 The following are the impacts felt and realised at the school:

• Time is nowadays saved for learning as pupils used to waste a lot of time as the latrines were not enough and water had to be fetched from a far away stream. As a result, academic performance has improved, particularly for girls.
• Hygiene has improved as classrooms can be cleaned easily as we have a good source of water. Also water is used to wash hands after visiting the latrines and before eating.
• The latrines have brought privacy as the previous ones only had shutters and some girls refused to use them.
• Truancy has been curbed as some pupils previously preferred to go outside the school (for privacy) to use the toilet or to source water from nearby streams.
• The pupils nowadays have access to clean water and this has reduced infection through water-borne diseases e.g. typhoid.
• The face of the school has changed as the facilities are modern.

In conclusion we sincerely thank KRA for the initiative they are undertaking to improve sanitary facilities in semi-arid and arid areas such as Matuiku Primary School, we hope that you will continue supporting the school with more facilities.

Yours, John Ndegwa, Head Teacher, Matuiku Primary School

Other news from KRA

As well has working on the Matuiku project, KRA is involved in a number of large-scale rainwater harvesting projects across Kenya. The European Union/Skillshare four-year project recently came to a successful end, having benefited 1000s of small-scale farmers and families across eight districts. The New Life Mission water and livelihoods project in the pastoralist area of Kajiado is doing well and has another year to run. The United States Aid Agency (USAID) project is into the 2nd year of three and already over 100 farm ponds have been constructed and 80 local artisans have been trained in construction! And finally, KRA has recently won new funding from the Africa Development Bank (AfDB) to implement a large, three-year rainwater harvesting project across three counties in Kenya. The project will officially launch in October.

As ever, thanks for your ongoing support and interest in our work.

Did you know that GlobalGiving has a gift card scheme where you can donate to our project on behalf of a friend or family member for their birthday, Christmas, Mother's Day, Wedding day gift etc... Read more here: http://www.globalgiving.co.uk/gifts/

Links:

• KRA features in Horn of Africa Drought and Famine Relief Report