weaver dispersion: Who owns the Water? A tale of two Schools

Erstellt am: 22. 3. 2013 - 15:41 Uhr

Reality Check Special: Chris Pearson of the NGO Build Africa tells us how his organization brings clean water to rural communities of Kenya & Uganda.

Build Africa is an NGO which works in East Africa, in particular, building classrooms, school programmes and helping with essential systems like water supplies in rural Kenya & Uganda. And they have a Water Campaign which is all about bringing clean water to children in rural communities. As our Saturday Reality Check includes the challenges developing countries often face, bringing clean water to their populations, we invited Chris Pearson of Build Africa to tell us about how his organization goes about its work.

Before and after the Build Africa tanks arrived

by Chris Pearson of Build Africa

"My name is Stephen and I am a 12 year old student at Kiatuni Primary School in the Machakos District of Kenya. I am sure that you have heard about the terrible problems we have with water in Kenya. The situation is very bad where I live, making life at school very difficult.

My parents are farmers who need to grow food to live. But the school gardens that they have helped to set up have failed to harvest because of a lack of water, as have their crops at home. As a result we no longer have meals every day. I have seen children sleeping in class because they have missed their breakfast and dinner the night before, while others don?t come in to school because they are looking for water with the elders."

Today 2.5 billion people in the world, including almost one billion children, live without even basic sanitation. Every 20 seconds, a child dies as a result of poor sanitation. That's 1.5 million preventable deaths each year. Source: Water Supply and sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC)

"Recently my friend was taken to hospital after he complained of stomach ache and diarrhoea. The teacher later told us that he was so desperate for water that he had been reduced to drinking water that was normally used for cleaning and washing. We have been warned in our health club about the dangers of dirty water, but sometimes there is no other water to drink."

In Kenya, diarrhoea kills over one in six children under the age of five, with unsafe water, poor sanitation and hygiene being the biggest risk factors related to this. Source: WHO (2010)

"I am anxious because I know that dirty water is one of the main causes of death in Africa, and most of the victims are young people like me. Also, in the past we had a rule that all pupils should take a bath and have their uniforms cleaned at least twice a week. But this is difficult because water is such a treasure in many homes. Children now often come to school dirty and smelling bad, with uniforms that need to be washed. But our parents need the water for cooking."

The UN suggests that each person needs 20-50 litres of water a day to ensure their basic needs for drinking, cooking and cleaning. Source: World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP)

"There are 250 boys and girls at the school and our parents sometimes need to use the water as well. I want to be in school rather than looking for water; I want my friends not to be tired and hungry; I want to spend my day at school learning about good things like English and science rather than terrible diseases like typhoid and dysentery."

A different school:

Water brings a new life and new hope for children helped by the School Development Plan

Build Africa doesn?t believe in short fixes: we provide sustainable solutions in all areas of our work. That?s why we work with parents, teachers and pupils to identify the particular challenges facing each school, and develop a three year School Development Plan to tackle them. Understandably water and hygiene is high on most school lists, including Kiatuni?s.

Because of this partnership, the schools we work with have seen a dramatic rise in attendance and in the number of pupils going on to secondary school, not least because parents and staff form effective committees to take responsibility for the future maintenance and development of their boreholes and water tanks, as Mrs. Eunice Mutisya, headmistress at Kiatuni, was eager to tell us:

"The water tanks have now arrived and they are already having an impact on performance. Think how much better our pupils will perform now that we can use our new water supply for drinking, for washing the classrooms, in the kitchen and the toilets. We are also planning to develop the school garden so that we have a better range of vegetables (such as peas, maize and beans).

Our rainy seasons are unpredictable, but two of the three tanks are now full, while the other is filling up fast because of the current rains. When this is full we will have enough water to last us a year, especially since they are locked and supervised by a member of the School Management Committee.

Now the pupils can concentrate on their studies and turn up to school on time because they are not burdened with the search for water. They can even take water home if they are desperately in need and can use the water for construction, for example, saving their parents a trip to the river. Our community really has been transformed by our new water supply."

Reality Check's Saturday Special this week asks "Who Owns the Water", and looks at water problems and solutions in Africa, China, South America and Europe.