A New well at the Bukwaya Primary School Brings Clean Water to the School and a Busy Health Center II
In the village of Bukwaya in Imanyiro, Uganda the Bukwaya Primary School sits just 60 meters from Bukwaya Health Center II, yet the nearest safe water point was one kilometer away. Any time someone at the school or clinic needed water, it meant a two-kilometer round trip. For a community already stretched, those hours added up fast.
The Long Walk for Water
“Our students had to walk 2 kilometers to get clean drinking water,” recalls Deputy Head Teacher Nawongobi Zamina. The route was near a busy road, on which cars often sped by, putting children at risk before they even had a chance to reach the borehole.
Breakdowns, Padlocks, and Delays at Bukwaya
The nearest well was shared by the school, the health center and the local village. With so many people relying on just one borehole, the hand pump frequently broke down. Without an active water committee in place, every repair required a community collection to raise the funds. Simple fixes that should have been quick and inexpensive would often take weeks. “The well would break and stay broken until the community had raised the money,” Zamina says.
Sometimes the school covered repair costs and waited to be reimbursed. Other times students would make the long walk only to find the pump padlocked, because the caretaker was also a farmer and locked the pump whenever he had to leave. Lines grew long, tensions rose, and children were told to “find your own water.”
Bukwaya Health Center II: Where Even the Rainwater was Rationed
At the health center, staff depended on rainwater stored in large plastic tanks. “In the dry season we had to ration water, and even then it still ran out,” explains Kaisenashi Martha “It wasn’t clean either, because the rain was collected off a dirty, rusted metal roof.” For a facility where many mothers come to deliver, reliable safe water for handwashing, keeping newborn babies healthy and cleaning maternity beds is essential.
A Shared Well Changes Daily Life
Drop in the Bucket drilled a well halfway between the school and the clinic so both could access clean water quickly. “Our lives have changed,” Zamina smiles. “We don’t send students to distant boreholes anymore, porridge is prepared on time, and pupils study in clean classrooms. A lot has changed since the well was drilled.”
Student Abed Bafumba has big dreams: “Things are good now that we have water! I also play football and after the match I get to drink water from the well. I am so grateful.”
Why Clean Water This Matters
This water well does more than reduce time spent on a daily chore—it protects health, improves learning time, and strengthens community services. Clean water close to home helps keep girls in school, lowers exposure to waterborne disease, and reduces conflict at crowded boreholes. It’s the kind of lasting impact donors look for when supporting a clean water charity.
Donate today to help bring more reliable water to schools and health centers like Bukwaya’s—and keep students where they belong: in class.
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