Rhoda Anayo is a passionate entrepreneur, wife, and mom to six children, all of whom attend school. Her eldest son is a senior in high school and wants to continue his education at a university, but will first need to pass his exams at the end of this year. Rhoda’s husband grows sugar cane, which Rhoda is then able to sell at her savvy makeshift market stall.
Rhoda started her business in July of 2014 and now, over a year later, she has made 300,000 shillings (close to 90 US dollars). Compared to what businesswomen make in America per year, this might not seem like a lot, but in Uganda, Rhoda’s starting business is proving to be quite successful. She got this opportunity by borrowing money from the Village Savings and Loan Association Drop in the Bucket requires of her village, Dokolo Komuda.
The Dokolo Komuda VSLA works in a systematic way so that community members have a chance to start any business venture. The association began with each member paying 1,000 shillings per week (less than one US dollar per week) in order to build the total savings pool. Members can now borrow up to 250,000 shillings (around 70 US dollars) with a one-time interest rate of 20 percent. They have 30 days to repay the amount borrowed including interest.
For someone like Rhoda, who would normally just be a housewife doing daily domestic tasks such as cleaning, cooking, and taking care of her children, with the VSLA, Rhoda can now spend some of her time using her mind in an innovative way in order to make money and better provide for her family and community. Rhoda started her business by borrowing 100,000 shillings (almost 30 US dollars) in order to buy the necessary items to put together her market stall – flour, sweets, soap, bread, and other small items. She paid her loan with the added interest back shortly. She again borrowed 200,000 shillings (almost 60 US dollars) in order to increase her inventory and make even more profit. Rhoda makes 80,000-100,000 shillings per week, which means she is extremely successful based on how much she initially borrowed.
Rhoda is so grateful she was given the chance to start her own business. She has noticed that since her market stall was up and running, her family’s total income increased, making it easier to meet their immediate needs, such as schooling costs, clothing, food, etc. Her children can now have better lives and more opportunities. Rhoda has big plans for the future of her business. She wants to start cultivating rice in the nearby swamps, which would make her even more money and provide her community with a steady food staple.
This year Global Hand Washing Day fell on October 17th. It is important to us because it is a opportunity to highlight the importance of good hygiene practices, particularly washing your hands. This year’s theme was “Raise a Hand for Hygiene.” To commemorate the cause, Drop in the Bucket spent the day at the Kudo Primary School in Torit, South Sudan.
Drop in the Bucket spent Global Hand Washing Day 2015 at the Kudo Primary School in Torit, South Sudan.
Our Program and Partners
Several organizations working in the WASH sector showed their willingness to raise their hands and get involved in the fight for better hygiene. In addition to DROP, our partners from NIRAS, the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Public Utilities, and the County WASH department, offered their time, talent and resources. They worked hand in hand with workers and students at three local primary schools as well as members of the surrounding community. In total, 500 people came to learn—and to have fun.
For its part, DROP provided snacks, sweets, soda, clean water and, of course, soap, for hand-washing demonstrations. It also awarded two boys who had actively encouraged their parents to construct toilets at home with T-Shirts, soap, pens and school exercise books.
Global Hand Washing Day 2015 Torit, South Sudan
The day’s events included a play as well as traditional songs and dances—all with the message of using latrines and washing hands regularly. Nine Sanitation committee members from the villages of Lobule, Lofiri and Lohira presented speeches focusing on constructing latrines, which address the root cause of diseases—diseases can then be spread without proper hand-washing. At the end of the day, those assembled committed to construct more latrines in their villages.
And that’s the importance of events like this. It’s not just that 500 people showed up, it’s that those people will return to their village with an important message. In their communities, sanitation will spread now instead of diseases.
Gardner Denver Donate a new Drilling Compressor to Drop in the Bucket
As the trucks rolled in, all of the children gathered around. They didn’t know that this drilling compressor, a gift to DROP from industrial machinery giant Gardner Denver, would dramatically reduce the cost of drilling wells. They didn’t know it could enable DROP to drill twice as many water wells a year. All they knew was that by the time the truck rolled away, they’d have clean water at their school.
Gardner Denver donated this Comp Air compressor to the non-profit organization Drop in the Bucket who are drilling wells in Africa.
Kyere Township Primary school
The well was built for Kyere Township Primary school, which educates more than a thousand children. It will also benefit Kyere Central and Omirio, surrounding villages that combined have a population of more than 1,000. Before this borehole was drilled, the nearest source of clean water was more than 2 kilometers away. As a result, the local community was more often getting its drinking water from a swamp nearby.
Children and adults alike had struggled to stay healthy. So it makes sense that a crowd gathered to see the drilling rig arrive from DROP’s office in Soroti, even though it was before 8 a.m. on a Friday. A second truck carrying the compressor had driven up from Kampala and arrived at 11:30 a.m. By 2 p.m the ground had been broken to mark the start of the drilling process.
Drilling a well at the Kyere Township Primary School in Serere, Uganda
The drilling Process
By 5:30 that evening, the drill had made it through 35 meters of dirt and solid rock to hit mud. The drillers knew what was coming next and didn’t look happy about it. Mud drilling, a process which involves digging trenches and filling a large bladder with water to keep water constantly circulating through the drilling hole, is a tedious process. DROP’s crew of drillers worked until it was too dark to continue and they had to stop for the night. The next morning, they returned to the mud drilling and were relieved to hit rock again at around 4 p.m. After a final 10-meter push, clean water came gushing out of the new well.
Hitting water at a well for the Kyere Township Primary School in Serere, Uganda
Using the same drilling rig and our old compressor, drilling through a meter of rock would have taken our team a half an hour. With the new CompAir compressor, it took just 11 minutes. This compressor now means DROP can more efficiently use our funds, since we have to spend less money on travel expenses for our crews in the field. “We couldn’t be happier with the compressor,” DROP co-founder and president John Travis says. “It will literally change everything for our organization in terms of finance and efficiency.”
Most importantly, more efficiency means more villages and schools with clean water; it means healthier and better-educated children; and it means more smiling faces like the ones you see in these photos.
Etop Radio is a Community Radio Station owned by Vision Group Broadcasting on 99.4 FM.
Drop staff member Besi Atim helps distribute One World Futbols in Soroti, Uganda.
Since its inception in 2009, Etop radio has been the most popular station in the Eastern region. Etop’s programming has captured the attention of a massive audience because of its focus on fascinating human-interest stories and social transformation in the region.
The station’s shows focus on health, education, games and sports, good governance, infrastructural development, spiritual empowerment and many others. These programs educate and entertain but have often faced challenges in enacting real-world change.
Drop in the Bucket is working with the One World Play Project in Uganda
Using Radio Programming to Empower Communities
To help leverage its popularity to do good, Etop created a promotional message in mid-July 2015 that shares the work of Drop in the Bucket and the Kampala based organization The Kids League. The advertisement invites listeners into a contest where they can call in for a chance to win soccer balls for their children’s primary schools. These specially designed balls called One World Futbols were donated to DROP by the One World Play Project and are virtually indestructible. They look, feel and even bounce like regulation soccer balls but don’t require air and as a result can be used on many different surfaces safely.
The promotion has been running daily since its inception, and the response has been overwhelming. Some parents have even made the additional effort to get permission from the head schoolteachers, allowing them to pick the balls for the school.
This promotion has been successful in the same way that all of Etop’s programs have been—by educating and entertaining. It has brought increased attention to educational issues in the region, particularly:
Strengthening Messages of Sanitation
Sanitation: On the radio, Etop has attempted to educate adults about sanitation through talk shows, news stories and magazine. But there is still a challenge for many communities in accessing clean water because local governments lack the financial resources to drill boreholes. By drilling boreholes at schools, DROP has helped tie communities with their educational facilities more intimately. With clean water, school attendance—particularly for girls—increases.
Physical fitness. Activities refresh the minds of students and help them comprehend more in the classroom. Some children find success in sports and are more likely to stay in school because of it.
Attendance. A school that does not have active extracurricular activities like football, netball—or which lacks a nearby water source—will have low pupil enrollment, attendance and retention, especially for girls. Games and clean water keep children at school.
Community involvement. The games and sanitation system help communities become more involved in the education, safety and health of the students. Better-educated and healthier children lead to brighter futures for communities.
During the last 9 years Drop in the Bucket has built wells and/or sanitation systems at more than 300 schools in sub-Saharan Africa. But no place has had an impact on us quite like the St. Francis Madera School for the Blind. When we began working at the school we had no idea that this would become our biggest project to date. We also had no idea just how big an impression these kids would leave on us.
Life can be incredibly challenging for a blind child in a country like Uganda. The dirt road to school is paved only with pitfalls—tree stumps, potholes and people with the worst intentions obstruct your path. The only route to a better life is education, but what happens when none of the local schools are equipped to educate sight-impaired children? This is why the Madera School for the Blind is such a special place.
We started working at the school a little more than a year ago. The goal was simple—everybody deserves the dignity of having a decent toilet and these kids are no different.
Students from the St Francis Madera School For the Blind playing music.
The progress so far
So far, your generous donations have helped us build two sets of toilets. Outside each set of dorm rooms (the school is coed), there are now bathrooms complete with flushing toilets, sinks and even showers. The 100 boys and girls living at the school finally have access to decent sanitation for the first time in the school’s 60-year history.
The next step is to install a solar pump, which will supply with the school with a permanent source of running water. This water will be used for the showers and faucets and will flush the toilets. It will help to quench the students’ thirst and help them keep themselves clean.
The boys toilets that Drop in the Bucket constructed at the St Francis Madera School for the Blind in Uganda
The solar pump we need is not cheap, and we still need $26,000 to cover the purchase and installation. But for the first time in the school’s history, a brighter future is possible for these students. Partner with us to make it a reality. This school and its students have had to make significant sacrifices to get their most basic need, clean water, for the past 60 years. They shouldn’t have to wait a day more.
From youth leagues where kids 20 kids swarm one soccer ball to professional stadiums packed with hundreds of thousands of fans, sports bring people together. In the unforgiving climate and landscape of sub-Saharan Africa, games can be difficult to organize for an all-too-simple reason: Soccer balls can’t survive. Drop in the Bucket has partnered with the One World Play Project to try and change that,
School children playing soccer with one world futbols in Uganda.
The One World Play Project
The One World Play Project has developed a ball that feels, bounces and kicks like a standard soccer ball. Though there is one major difference. Thanks to their innovative bladder-less design, these balls never need to be inflated. And they’ve generously donated hundreds of these revolutionary balls to DROP to distribute. We have been enjoying distributing these One World Play Project balls to schools where we’re currently drilling wells.
One World Futbols are much more durable than regular balls due to their unique bladderless design.
A healthy childhood, after all, is built around safety, education and fun. DROP already works to improve sanitation in schools throughout the region by building toilets and sinks and showers and by building clean-water wells. When children are healthier, they’re able to attend school regularly. Educational experts also believe that play is an integral part of school. Physical exercise decreases boredom in the classroom and enhances students’ capacity to focus and learn. Sports also help to instill life lessons in a non-school setting.
Think back to the lessons that you learned from sports — the importance of preparation, the value of discipline and the good of being part of a team. These lessons help build children into healthy adults and go hand-in-hand with the mission of hard-working teachers.
These balls never need to be pumped up but bounce just like regular soccer balls thanks to their unique design.
Bringing communities together through sports
It’s important, too, to remember that sports are about fun. In a region finally at peace after more than two decades of war, soccer games can provide short windows of escape for children and adults. We hope that these balls will bring schools from different districts together for fun and healthy, competitive matches.
We see these soccer balls as an opportunity for friendships to be forged, lessons to be learned and communities to come together. The changes we are seeing when children are given these balls are exciting and encouraging. These balls from the One World Play Project are making a huge difference in these schools and we are happy to be a part of that change.
This article was originally published in the Santa Monica Observer Newspaper on July 9th 2015
Local couple shining a light for sight impaired children in Uganda.
The first time Los Angeles transplants John & Stacey Travis traveled to Africa was in 2006. Their careers in entertainment had earned them some success, but left them feeling compelled to do something to give back. That opportunity came with an invitation to accompany some doctors from Stacey’s hometown on a medical trip to a small village in rural Uganda.
The doctors they were traveling with were setting up makeshift clinics to treat people for a variety of diseases. John, Stacey, their friend Cassie and a handful of other volunteers were tasked with wrangling the crowds into orderly lines. It became quickly apparent that the doctors and volunteers had a big task ahead of them. “Literally everybody was sick with something,” said Stacey. “And almost all of it was caused by the dirty water they were drinking. We knew we had to do something to help but we knew we had to get to the cause rather than just continuing to treat the symptoms.” The solution had to involve better drinking water.
After looking into various filtration systems and other ways to clean water, they found that the most cost effective and sustainable solution was also the simplest: drilling water wells!
A child holding up a container of clean water from a well.
That trip to Africa became the start of a long and unexpected journey that has now grown into an organization called Drop in the Bucket, a group which has now completed over 300 wells in East Africa.
One of their most ambitious projects is one they are currently working on at the St. Francis Madera School for the Blind in Uganda. The school opened in 1955 and is the only school solely dedicated to educating visually impaired children in the country.
Being a child in rural Uganda already presents several challenges… being a blind child, considerably amplifies those challenges and adds many more. There are no paved roads, so every tree stump, pothole or rock becomes a hazard. Unable to defend themselves, they are at risk of child abuse, abduction and abandonment. So often, out of protection, the children are kept in a very sheltered existence of a small village, a few huts or sometimes just one room. These children have had to struggle to survive.
Like many of the schools in Uganda, Madera was built out of necessity. Visually impaired children did not have facilities that could treat their specific needs. In fact, local communities often didn’t see the need to educate handicapped children at all.
Word quickly spread that there was a school in Soroti that would take blind children. Many parents from all over the country had brought their special needs children to Madera and left them there, never to return. As a result, Madera became a full-time boarding school with students living on campus.
The school turns the future around for the now nearly 200 students. For the first time their lives become full of hope, possibility and potential.
The children are taught to read and write in Braille and receive vocational training, but more importantly, the students develop social skills and friendships they could have never experienced before. They help each other learn and grow as a family.
The marching band made up of sight impaired pupils from the Madera School for the Blind in Uganda
Some of the biggest breakthroughs have occurred through the children’s love of music. The school even formed a marching band that performs any chance they get. The instruments they are playing may be held together with duct tape and they may be using large twigs instead of drumsticks, but these kids are happy to be playing music together and put the same energy and enthusiasm into performing as they would if they were playing the halftime show at the Rose Bowl.
Through this marching band, they have discovered a way to connect with each other and develop a strong sense of belonging. The band is bringing the community together through the joy of music.
Drop in the Bucket is working with the Madera school to improve the living conditions. Plans are in place to install a solar pump for access to clean, drinkable water, and specially designed showers and toilets for the sight-impaired will be installed in both dorms.
The organization has already raised the money to fund the construction of two sets of toilets for the school, which are currently being built. The toilets themselves are unique in that unlike most toilets in the developing world, they actually treat the sewage rather than just storing it.
They are still raising money to do more work at the school and that includes a specially designed well to supply the school with water for the toilets, the kitchen, hand washing stations and even showers (a first for the organization). “This is the biggest project we have ever taken on for a single school,” said John Travis. “But the children’s needs are so specific and unique that almost everything we are doing has to be customized to work for the sight-impaired.” He continued, “When you live here in Southern California you end up taking so much for granted. Until this most recent drought most of us didn’t have any reason to think about access to water. That all changes when you go to parts of Africa where for most people finding some water to drink is their number one daily concern.”
To learn more about Drop in the Bucket and find out how you can help the Madera School for the Blind, please visit: www.dropinthebucket.org/madera
At DROP, we love sharing stories of our work but it’s always nice when someone else see the significance of our work and decides to share it, too.
Below is an article from Uganda’s largest newspaper, the New Vision. We were pleased with the piece but need to point out one inaccuracy: The story says that the technology behind the toilets is from South Africa. In reality, we first designed and began building these types of sanitation systems in Uganda in 2007 using a roundabout pump we had custom built. The South African based NGO, Water For All, donated 20 similar pumps, one of which was used for this project.
This particular school project was made possible by a donation from an Ohio-based company called Earnest Machine. Every time a donor sponsors a well, we like to include an inscription of the donor’s choosing, and Earnest Machine decided to have us inscribe their slogan, “Intentionally Better.” We loved those words because they a standard for something to aspire to for everyone involved in the project, from Earnest Machine to DROP to Hope Junior.
The school is new performing better than ever at their end-of-term exams. Before the toilets, many children—primarily girls—were forced to drop out. Not only are many of them back in school now, but other kids in the district are coming to the school as well. Since we built the toilets, the school has hired new teachers and added three buildings, including a separate nursery school. Now allow New Vision to share with you our latest success story.
New Vision – April 11th 2015
Pupils of Hope Junior School washing their hands after visiting toilet.
Photos and text By Francis Emorut
Government has been asked to adopt new flush toilet technology from South Africa for schools across the country to curb poor hygiene.
The flush toilets technology the first of its kind has been installed at Hope Junior School in Soroti district.
According to Julius Olobo the manager of Drop in the Bucket the new technology has become a model of learning in Soroti district.
The toilets are clean and are used by a population of 324 pupils of Hope Junior School.
Water and sanitation officers in eastern region appealed to government to replicate the technology countryside to combat poor hygiene and relief from a burden of digging pit latrines after they become full.
Pupils of Hope Junior School fetching water connected to flush toilets in Soroti district using new technology.
“The government should take advantage of the new technology and spread it countryside,” Bony Komakech, the environmental health officer in Nakapiripirit said.
Komakech was supported by Ronald Ssebuliba a technical water officer in Wakiso district who said the new technology would facilitate good practices of hygiene and therefore, government should spearhead the crusade to have such facility installed in every school.
Sr. Christine Nanyazi the head of women’s Group in Kaabong district said the new flush toilet technology is ideal for schools since they have big population and it will promote good hygiene
The flush toilets are constructed in the form of pit-latrine separated for both boys and girls but has underground water tank of 4,000 litres while the tank erected up contains 1,000 litres of water.
The two tanks supply constant water to the toilets using a motorized system.
The motorized system is connected to the borehole, wheel pump and to the tanks.
“Many interested parties including the ministry of education have visited this place to learn how the flush toilet technology works,” Olobo the manager of Drop in the Bucket told water and sanitation regional officers.
The water and sanitation officers were in a field tour organized by Water and Sanitation Network Uganda (UWASNET).
Olobo explained that technology is the first pilot project in Teso region while in Acholi and Lango sub-regions the technology is available in six and five schools respectively.
According to Olobo the technology was borrowed from South Africa and it costs sh80m.
Olobo said the flush toilets can be used for a period of 20-50 years. It has septic tank.
He said it’s ideal because it saves school administration from constant digging of latrines.
“It has become a centre of learning in Teso region,” Olobo said.
The cleanness of the toilets has contributed to retention of girls in school.
Pupils of Hope Junior School in Soroti district playing using a roundabout pump that is used in the new technology.
“Because the place is clean the menstruating girls can pad themselves,” the school’s headteacher Julius Edwonu noted.
Edwonu also pointed out that both the boys and girls supervise each other and this ensures cleanness for both toilets.
The technology enables pupils to sit on the wheel pump (popularly known as Mary go system) and rotate themselves around moving in a faster speed.
Earlier the water and sanitation officers were trained in documenting success stories in the water and sanitation sector.
“You should be able to document a success story that informs your partners of achievements made in water and sanitation,” Rehema Aanyu the UWASNET liaison and advocacy officer said.
The water and sanitation officers promised to ensure that the flush toilet technology is adopted in their respective districts.
Water and sanitation officers examining a septic tank for the flush toilets of Hope Junior School in Soroti district.
This article was originally published in Uganda’s New Vision newspaper. To view it on their website please go to this link.
Sarah Awelping is currently a 19-year-old sixth grader at the Salam Girls’ School in Aweil, South Sudan. When she was 15 years old, she became close with a boy, Garang, from her neighboring village and over time, the two fell in love. They hoped to one day marry, but first, they wanted to focus on school since the war put them so behind in their studies.
Around the same time Sarah and Garang started their relationship, a 60-year-old man, who was already living with four wives, offered Sarah’s parents a large dowry of 100 cows for the girl. Sarah was only 15 years old at the time. She knew that if she was forced to marry the old man her life would consist of a loveless marriage in which her main job would be to provide the man with children until he grew tired of her and took yet another wife. Sarah became so terrified that she ran away with Garang.
In South Sudan, a dowry is one of the few times people can receive a large sum of money, so for the Awelping family, Sarah’s potential dowry was a huge deal. In rural South Sudan, 100 cows signify a great deal of money and for a family living below the poverty line, like the Awelpings, this size of dowry was life changing despite the impact it would have on their daughter’s future. Sarah knew it was her duty, but she also knew she did not love the man. Sarah was aware with how much girls suffer, as they are rendered powerless once they are sold as property to the highest bidder. Unlike marriages of love and trust, these arranged marriages leave wives in unfair, emotionless, and abusive relationships. Sarah says she couldn’t even imagine having to get permission from her husband every time she wanted to leave the house to run errands, since her husband would fear that she’d run away from the unhappy marriage.
Sarah felt so helpless and devastated with the arrangement her parents were making and even though the idea of running away was daunting, she knew it was her only option if she ever wanted to be happy. She understood that her parents could choose to never accept her back into the family, but she just wasn’t able to bear the thought of spending the rest of her life married to a man 45 years older than her who she did not even know, let alone love.
Sarah’s aunt strongly supported her decision and once other community members learned of the situation, they also defended her right to stay with Garang. While Sarah’s parents were initially upset that they lost the dowry, they eventually grew to accept and support her relationship with Garang.
Now, four years later, Sarah is happily married to Garang. She is still in school and dreams of one day becoming a doctor so that she can spend her time helping others. Looking back, Sarah is so thankful she made the decision to run away, because now she is able to choose how she’d like to live her life.
Jimmy Apunyu is a 15-year-old boy in seventh grade at Ating Tuo Primary School in Alebtong, Uganda. He and his older siblings are responsible for collecting the water his family drinks, and that his sisters and mother use for making dinner and washing clothes.
Jimmy’s family live in a village called Oyon Alwevi. It is less than one mile away from their school. But, because of the powerful intense and unsteady dirt roads, the walk to and from school can seem like it takes several hours. One day Jimmy and his sister stopped at a hand-dug well that they passed on their way home from school. It was very hot that day, so, they decided to take a rest. They drank the well water, poured some on their heads to cool off and played around in it. When they were ready to leave they filled up jerry cans with the water so they could bring some home with them.
An hour later, just after they returned home, both Jimmy and his sister started to feel sick. They had strong stomach pains that Jimmy described by saying “It was like my intestines wanted to climb out of my body”. Jimmy knew it was because of the water since it came so soon after they drank it. His sister said that she had been nervous about drinking the water at the time, but she was just too thirsty on the walk home to not stop for water. After a few weeks of feeling ill, Jimmy told the head teacher at his school, “I am sick with stomach worms and need help. Can we get someone to come to our school and help us.” One of the village elders knew the Uganda Program Manager for Drop in the Bucket who arranged for Jimmy and his sister to get medical attention. Two weeks, Drop in the Bucket built a well the Ating Tuo Primary School so that the school could have their own source of clean water well on the premises.
The medicine Jimmy and his sister were given quickly had them feeling better, and now that their school has a well, they won’t ever have to worry about getting sick from unsafe water again. Jimmy hopes to one day become a teacher so he can help other children to improve their lives.
