LIVE AND DON’T LET DIE WATER PROJECT

Fresh2o and Edirisa UK In Cooperation with

Kigezi Water and Sanitation Department

Report on Visit to Kabale District February 2011 The purpose of the visit was to assess the progress of the project to install water harvesting tanks using funds raised at the Live and Don’t Let Die event in London in November 2009. In April 2010 the following budget was agreed for the installation of the water harvesting tanks in the Kabale District in south west Uganda.

Item Cost shillings

50 x 4,000 litre ferrocement tanks 46,425,000

5 x 4,000 litre ferrocement tanks 4,455,500

SNEC 25,000 litre tank 10,127,200

Lion Heart Nursery 2,813,000

Kyabahinga Schools 5,666,000

Training 4,800,000

TOTAL 74,297,700

STERLING £25,620

The large tank at the Special Needs Education Centre was the first tank to be completed and now provides enough water for drinking, cooking and showering. The Lion Heart Nursery tank was completed but the connection to the mains water in the road about the nursery has yet to be finalized. Kyabahinga School’s tank is finished and provides water for the nursery school and one of the primary school classroom blocks. The recipients of the 4,000 litre water tanks were identified by the Kigezi Diocese Water Department and work began in the Nyaruhanga area in late July 2010 and all 50 tanks were completed by November, 2010.

SPECIAL NEEDS EDUCATION CENTRE

Tank under construction

Finished tank

LION HEART NURSERY

Kyabahinga Primary School

The site for the water tank

Finished

Speech of the Chairman of the Nyaruhanga Community on the occasion of the visit by Madam Sheila to inspect the water tank installation at Nyaruhanga, Kabale District 8th

February, 2011 Greetings and welcome to: Our Guest of honour - Madam Sheila, Our Sister and your Team Our Overseer - Nyaruhanga Archdeaconry Rev Nkurunungi Milton- Water and Sanitation Programme- Diocese of Kigezi Our other visitors Ladies and Gentlemen;

1. On behalf of the people of Nyaruhanga, allow me to thank you for the 51 tanks that we have received. To us this seemed like a dream.

2. God used Madam Sheila and her team, in cooperation with the Water and Sanitation Programme– Diocese of Kigezi to get the tanks. Thanks be to God.

3. We shall always remember 2010 as a year that God relieved us from the burden of fetching water over long distances.

4. The water sources from which we fetched water, usually would be overcrowded by peoples from the neighboring sub- counties. This would often result in delays at the water sources, struggles for water resulting into fighting were common and sometimes the girl child was at the risk of rape during the night.

5. On another water source, 4 villages converge to collect water from the same source. Often times, the delays at the water sources resulted in time waste for Agricultural work and other community developments; some families would not cook food due to lack of water on certain nights, In addition some children would fail to attend school.

Life has greatly changed since we got the water tanks as follows:

We, the elderly, have water near our houses; we have enough to drink after boiling it.

We are able to do work in time because the water is near by. Our children no longer suffer the burden of fetching water The level of sanitation and hygiene has greatly improved because we have

enough water to clean our cloth, bath, and clean household utensils.

Even people who have not befitted from the tanks are also happy that their neighbors have received the tanks benefited because they sometimes share the water. May the Almighty God bless you and remain with you. Yours, Robert Babona

A group photograph of the tank beneficiaries during Mrs Sheila’s visit to Nyaruhanga community:

37 elderly people or couples, 9 households of HIV infected persons and 4 disabled people have benefited from the construction of Ferro – cement tanks constructed (400 liter capacity). One of the HIV infected families (husband and wife) with their children. Fortunately all their children are HIV negative. From right to left – the father - Peter Byamugisha (29 years), sons Justus (7) and Jovira (6), wife Agnes (25) Madam Sheila on her visit, Peter’s month and their third son Gildo (2) in his grandmother’s arms.

Against the water tank is Edridah with her brother - Arineitwe Vincent. Vincent is also handicapped and they live together in the house. Edridah does not have both arms. Amazingly she can write using her toes. She completed primary school. The water tank at the time we took the photograph was not yet roofed. But few days from then, it would be completely done. Vincent used to fetch water from down in the valley – a round trip of about 4 km. On certain occasions, they relied on well wishers to get little amounts of water. Edridah and Vincent are really excited about the tank; and they say, it is a gift from God. Some concerned neighbors about the plight of this family, are also grateful for the tank.

Stories from three other beneficiaries

Turinawe Edisa (25) is married to Tukamushaba Steven (37) with 3 children. Two of these are school going with the oldest in Primary 4 and are being supported in school by Compassion International. The couple lives with Steven’s parents aged 82. Ediisa confesses the difficulty she meets in accessing safe water. Her water source is about 2 km to the nearest protected spring with a very low yield. It is often congested at peak times of water hauling (mornings and evenings). Edisa and Steven are one of the households who were identified to benefit from these 4,000 litre tanks. The tank has been constructed at their household and Edisa hopes it will greatly benefit her family. In her words she says; ‘I thank God, for giving me this tank. With it, water will be near by and available. I will be spending less time for water hauling. I am no longer worried of my children crossing a busy road where accidents are common.’ In addition, Edisa says the availability of the tank will provide more water for washing, bathing and drinking and as a result, improve domestic and personal hygiene. This will effectively improve her households’ livelihood. “When we are no longer living, our children will be relieved of water shortages at home,” she adds. Njunwooha Kedrace (65) disabled and married to Njunwoha Benon (70), live with their 2 grand children. Kedrace has suffered from diabetes since 2006 and has gone through a very difficult time. One of her feet toes have all dropped off due to the effect of the disease. This has hampered her movements. She is chair-ridden. Her life is just being supported by diabetes drugs which also make her weaker. She is supported by the grand children who do home chores. When the kids are away, it is the old man, Benon who does all the home chores including water hauling. The distance to the source of water is about 2km round trip. Benon says ‘I am grateful to all those that have given assistance to people that need support like us. After my tank has filled with water, I shall no longer go to the valley to collect water. And the availability of water close by, will improve our sanitation and our grand children will be relieved of the risk of accidents while crossing the main road going for water.’ Katara William (83) is married to Irene Katara (70). They stay with 1 grand child (12 yrs) who does the home chores. He is a primary school going child. When the boy is away at school, the old couple ask the neighbors children to help. They also try to do other home chores but with difficulty. Mzee William is weak. Even the little work that is done is by the old woman, Irene. Irene said: ‘This is a God given tank; there are many other weak, old people like us who have been given tanks like us. We are very happy and grateful to those who provided the funds. We shall take care of the tank so that the water remains close by, as we know everything requires maintenance.

Once the Lion Heart Nursery tank has been connected to the mains the Kigezi Diocese Water Department will produce the accounts showing actual against budget and we will be able to see if there is any surplus. So far 51 of the 4,000 litre tanks have been installed and we had budgeted for 55, although the transport costs have been higher than expected there may still be a small amount left in the fund. We have identified three locations for the future installation of 20,000 litre tanks:

1) Edirisa UK recently completed the building of a classroom block at the New Generation Primary school in the Namatala Slum in Mbale and this school desperately needs access to water. Most slums in Uganda have no access to clean water and few latrines.

2) The new nursery school we are building at Rubona alongside the primary school will also benefit from a large tank in the future.

3) The clinic we are building at Bufuka will need two tanks – one for clinic use and

one for the doctors’ accommodation. We hope to continue our partnership with the Kigezi Diocese Water Department and allocate funds for these tanks as and when they become available.