Safe clean water for 6,000 people in rural Uganda

Transform Africa

GlobalGiving Report 14

Testimony

Esther is a mother residing in Mityana sub-county who understands what it means to wake up early in the morning and walk for over an hour each way to fetch water. She has been molested on the way, fallen down in a ditch due to the darkness, witnessed at least two children almost drown in one of the water points, and usually shares the water points with domestic animals.

When interviewed by our project partners BIVA, this is what she said:

‘Life for me has been extremely difficult; despite the fear of infections and waterborne diseases, I had no alternative but to use the contaminated water ponds. This has causes untold damage to my family’s health and much financial loss as I had to spend a lot on medication.

However, with the construction of the new borehole, things have turned around dramatically. Our health has greatly improved and we can now save money to invest in our gardening project’.

Water borehole construction

In the past three months we were only able to construct one additional water borehole in the target area. However, the impact has been tremendous.

To make the use of the new water borehole more effective and beneficial, we have also organised training in hygiene and sanitation for all beneficiaries. This has helped the communities to further improve their health and to maintain the wells in a sustainable way.

We have ensured that the community members take active part in the construction of the water boreholes so that they can gain ownership of the project. They have provided labour, basic materials and food. They have also been equipped on borehole maintenance. In this way they can take full responsibility for the effective running and maintenance of the water borehole. This will continue even after the end of the project funding.

Benefits of the water borehole

As a result, levels of infections and illness have decreased as noted from the records of the local health units. There have been falls in the levels of attacks on women and girls who used to wake up early to fetch water. Women can now work comfortably in their gardens because of the easy access to water, and are now able to grow food crops for domestic consumption and market sales. In addition, women and girls can spend more time on other productive activities instead of taking care of the sick or spending hours to go and fetch unsafe water.

Further borehole construction

The generous contributions of donors have provided support for the construction of the boreholes. As the title of the project states, our goal is to reach over 6,000 rural beneficiaries in Uganda.

We therefore encourage donors to continue to supporting this project so that we can reach even more rural communities in Uganda.

Links:

• Transform Africa's Website