There have been two registered deaths of children from falls into ponds in Malalo in a year. Can you imagine just how much children are at risk in collecting water so far away from residents?
Malalo children wash and collect water 3km away in the bush swamp.
We want to build a well at the local primary school, not simply to give access to this basic human right, but also to keep everyone safe.
The 1300 people in the Nyamnyinya hamlet needed to collect their water from Ruchugi stream 5km away. Walking to and from the stream, queuing for water, then carrying it back home can take over three hours a day. This would mean a greater challenge – and deepening inequalities – for women and girls, who tend to hold the responsibility of collecting water for their households. This means three hours away from a school getting an education, or three hours away from work earning a vital income.
After such a successful campaign with Titye secondary school pump, we teamed up with Kwanda once again, this time to bring water to Lalambe. Kwanda provided the generous funding of £1,500 for our team to purchase the necessary equipment to hand-drill the borehole, make the hand-made water pump, and install it. As soon as we had the equipment our team – always ready to work on getting water to communities – started drilling and implementing the pump.
Lalambe now has a functioning water pump, giving them access to safe and clean water. They are now protected from waterborne diseases – especially the young people – and now longer have to walk 5km a day simply to collect water. Furthermore, this water pump takes us a step closer to empowering our women and girls – they are safer in this community and have more time to dedicate to their education and income-generating activities.
Benedicto spoke to the Headteacher of Lalambe Primary School who said how grateful the school and village is and how much it will impact their progress:
“This pump is fantastic, it saves us so much time. Previously we wasted hours getting water from the stream. Now I can spend more time on my studies and I am more confident I will do well and follow my dreams. Thank you Kwanda and thank you God for this opportunity,” Deborah, a standard 7 pupil at Lalambe Primary School, said.
We need to get access to clean and safe water to our communities. With every water pump that we install, lives are kept safer, children are kept in school, women get to spend more time working, and we take another step towards achieving gender equality.
We’re steadily reaching more communities…we just need the funds to do so.
