A School in Africa with a Dirty Water and Deadly Snake Problem

The Mother AK Memorial Nursery and Primary school is located next to the Otumpili Day and Boarding School. They are the only schools within a 20 km radius. Mother AK Memorial is both a kindergarten and a primary school more through necessity than actual choice. There was simply no option for the community to establish two schools, so they built one that caters to students of all ages. It is also a school with a dirty water and snake problem.

A School with a Dirty Water and Snake Problem

Before the well, the school and local community were dependent on a water hole that was over 1 km away. It was a long distance to walk, but it was their only option. Sarah Asunta, the school bursar mentioned that they would try to only send the older girls to go and fetch water, but sometimes the younger children would have to go. “During some unfortunate times, the pupils come back running and panting and without their water jerricans after finding a snake at the well,” confides Asunta.

A young female student named Lamunu Daisy, confirmed this saying “No. It was not just a snake. It was a python.” She said they were three girls and they all sprinted back to the school in fear.

Unsafe Water – The Situation Before the Well

The old water source was more than a kilometer from the school. It was in an isolated area, in what is known as ‘the bush’ and the path leading to it was unkempt and overgrown. This meant that the walk to and from the water hole took even longer than it normally would.

The water hole was not protected with any kind of fence, which meant it was also used by livestock. During rainy seasons the paths would flood and it became impossible to access the water hole. When this happened the pupils would collect water from any puddles they found that were deep enough. But this water was not clean or safe to drink.

The Negative Impact: Dirty Water and Trauma

Asunta says the encounters with snakes tend to have a traumatizing effect on the pupils and this is known to affect their performance in class.

Another issue the school used to face was that parents were reluctant to send their children to a school with no water. They did not like the idea of a school where their children were unable to wash their plates after school meals, with no water for drinking, no water for washing the toilets and no water to help wash their hands – a situation made worse by the current pandemic.

A New Well Solves the Dirty Water Problem

Schools in East Africa are still closed, including the schools in Uganda. However we are now hearing Ugandan schools are about to re-open after a long 83-week closure. The new well drilled by Drop in the Bucket has parents excitedly asking when the school will reopen. Even parents whose children were not in school are expressing an interest in enrolling their kids because of the new well. Asunta has a different reason to be happy. She is happy that the pupils will no longer have to deal with snakes when they are thirsty.

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A Health Center with No Clean Water

Mercy Aloyo is a fifth grade (primary five) student from Tobi, Uganda, who has just come down with Malaria. Malaria is a parasitic disease carried by mosquitoes that causes flu-like symptoms and can result in serious problems or even death without treatment. Mercy walks about 2 miles (3km) to Pakeyo Health Center II in order to get the medicine she needs. The center does not have an indoor waiting room, so she waits with the other patients in the hot midday sun to see one of Payeko’s health professionals.

Pakeyo Health Center II is a very busy facility which sees over fifty patients a day.  It also does not have a source of running water. The healthcare workers are often too busy tending to patients to fetch water throughout the day. When this happens, patients like Mercy are given the task of fetching water. She will bring water for everyone to drink while they wait to receive care. Last week while Mercy was waiting to receive her treatment she was sent to fetch water from the closest source, a community well that sits on the other side of Pakeyo’s main road.

Sick Patients Sent to Fetch Clean Water for the Health Center

All of the patients tasked with take a ten liter jug and wait for a break in traffic. When there is a break they will cross the busy road. Then Mercy waited in line with the other community members. When it was her turn, shefilled up the jug with water. She then crossed back to the center hauling 22lb (1 kg) of water. This dangerous activity is what allows Mercy and the other patients to stay hydrated while they wait to be seen.  Mercy is happy to go despite her fear of crossing such a busy road. Even though she is a young girl, she has been the best choice to fetch water because the other patients are often too sick to help.

The Health Risk of Sharing Water Containers

Getting the water to Pakeyo Health Center II is not the only challenge posed by the lack of a well at the facility. If there were running water at Pakeyo, patients would bring their own water jugs to fill and drink directly from them. Since they are all sharing one jug, they also must share the only available cup. This poses serious health risks, especially with the current coronavirus pandemic. Having a well at the center would mean that the patients could have clean water to drink. They would also be better able to keep themselves and their families safe from coronavirus.

Update: Thanks to a generous Drop in the Bucket donor, the Pakeyo Health Center now has its  own source of clean water due to the newly drilled well.

A School in Uganda Where People and Livestock Were Drinking the Same Water

The Ogwari Primary School is clearly visible from the road. A person driving by might have thought this school and the whole community were thriving. But what you wouldn’t see from the road was a water situation that was both alarming and sometimes deadly. Now thanks to new well drilled by Drop in the Bucket, things are looking up for the local residents. 

Before the well

Mr. Oree Okello Jackson, the elderly headteacher of the Ogwari Primary School reveals that the community shared the same shallow well with animals such as cattle, sheep, goats and pigs.

According to Mr. Oree, “Once pigs enter your water source, and dip their mouths in it, you should consider it unsafe.” The pigs and other livestock are free to roam around the area. While they’re drinking, they stand in the water and often urinate and defecate. This same waterhole has been sustaining the entire community for drinking, cooking and domestic use.

The real negative effect

Sometimes, when there were no adults around, local children would also bathe in the water hole. Although, the community knew the water was unclean and not safe to drink, there was no other option. Oree said the contamination was visible as you could see small organisms swimming in the buckets of water people collected for their homes.

Ejang Sharon, a housewife and mother of three, painfully recounted the time her three-year-old daughter Adong Bridget fell critically ill and was rushed to the hospital after a series of stomach pains and vomiting. 

The test results revealed that Adong had contracted bilharzia, a chronic disease caused by water-borne parasitic worms. Known to damage the internal organs and potentially lead to death, Ejang was terrified that she was going to lose her daughter to the illness. Luckily, Adong was treated just in time.

The doctor advised Ejang to always boil water before giving it to her family to drink. While she tried her best to comply, she said a lack of time and scarcity of firewood made it difficult to boil all the water her family needed each day.

The Solution

After inspecting and assessing the dire water situation in Ogwari, Drop in the Bucket drilled a well in the heart of the community. The faces of the community residents lit up with joy as they collected clean water from their brand new well.

“I can rest easy now that I know what happened to my child will not happen again,” beamed Ejang. “Bilharzia has become a thing of the past here.” 

Akite Nancy, a 15-year-old Ogwari primary school student, said she will now have all the clean water she needs and will no longer have to put her life in danger by simply quenching her thirst. 

Mr. Oree was overjoyed that Drop in the Bucket identified his community’s main problem and solved it. Looking to the future, he assured his fellow residents that he would work with Drop in the Bucket to maintain the well and make sure it remains a fixture in the community.

“This is a great blessing,” he said. “Life is surely going to change in this area.”

Clean Water – a Constant Concern for Patients and Staff at the Wii Anaka Health Center in Nwoya, Uganda

Ojok Patrick works at the Wii Anaka Health Center II in Nwoya, Uganda. Every morning he rides his bicycle several miles to fetch water from distant Wang Angila. The water there is piped in, so it is clean and safe for use in a health center. It is also the only safe water in the area, so there are always long lines. The distance and wait make it impossible for Ojok to make more than one trip  each day. When he does make his daily trip, he can only load four containers of water on his bicycle. This water has to be rationed by the entire staff at the health center. The water he brings is used by the patients for drinking and taking their medicine. It is also used by the medical staff for treating patients, and the maintenance staff for cleaning. 

Wilobo Willy George is the laboratory technician at the health center, and he uses the water Ojok brings every day. He says his department is the most affected by the water rationing because they need it for hand washing, cleaning equipment, diluting reagents, and in staining.  Staining is the process of dipping the blood sample for test in a reagent then in water repeatedly. “I have to perform so many tasks that require water, but rarely do I have enough water to complete them,” he says. In many cases, he even has to leave the center to fetch water by bicycle as his patients wait.

A Midwife’s Struggle

“They say ‘why go to a health center when the conditions are the same at home?’”

Sharon Faith – Midwife at the Wii Anaka Health Center III in Uganda.

Aber Sharon Faith, the midwife at the health center, says they never have enough water in the maternity ward. While most people realize that delivering babies requires water, clean water is also needed for cooking. Additionally, the maternity room must be thoroughly cleaned before delivering each baby. This lack of water at the facility discourages expectant mothers from going to the hospital to give birth. Many mothers prefer to have their baby at home rather than a facility that lacks clean water. Aber shakes her head resignedly, “they say, ‘why go to a health center when the conditions are the same at home?’”

During the dry season, even the piped water runs out. This leaves the health center with no choice but to use any water they can find. In rural Africa the water situation is often dire with people drinking water from dirty water holes and ponds. The health center installed a rain water harvesting tank. This has proven useful during rain season, but it’s not uncommon to find dead lizards in the tank, contaminating the water and making it unsafe. 

Drop In The Bucket drills a well for the Wii Anaka Health Center II in Nwoya, Uganda

Thanks to a generous donation from the Feya Foundation and Causebox, Drop In The Bucket were able to drill a well for the Wii Anaka Health Center. The staff and locals celebrated after DROP finished drilling the well. The community donated a goat and held a celebratory feast.

“I, in particular, celebrated the fact that I will finally have enough water for all my laboratory needs,” said a thrilled Wilobo. 

“Before the well, we would often be short on water when women went into labor during the night.  Now we have water right in our yard,” said the excited midwife Aber. “We shall now have enough water for swallowing our tablets, and we might not even need to carry water from home like before,” states Adok Joan, a patient who came for treatment. 

International Day of the Girl Child 2021

International Day of the Girl Child is celebrated each year on October 11^th. The aim is to shine a light the many challenges young girls face around the world and promote equality and human rights for all.

In societies where gender-based violence, child marriage, inequalities in education and health care are common, this event promotes awareness and sends messages to girls, families and local leaders that all girls have a right to live free from harm.

DROP’s education team and students participate every year in the event in South Sudan. And each year has a special theme. This year the message was: Digital Generation, Our Generation. 

Along with a parade and celebration, there are a number of activities planned to promote social change and encourage girls to learn skills to help them become future leaders.  

Girls as Future Leaders

One of the activities this year was to allow students to spend the day working in a local leadership position. So, for one day, the town clerk, county commissioner, hospital administrator, and radio station manager opened their doors to these youth. The students chaired meetings and were put into decision-making positions. This provided them with new insight into the adult world and also encouraged those leaders to hear their views and specific calls for action.

Then the celebration culminated in an event that included songs, dance and speeches.

Some of the songs were about issues of child marriage. One mother gave a heartfelt speech to the gathered students. “In all of Africa, we in South Sudan are the lowest. Education is the only way to bring us up.”

DROP has participated in this event for over a decade in South Sudan. In other years, the event was larger and included many other development partners. But things are changing. These days there is less focus on development projects, especially those centered around education. The world seems to be in a state of emergency and funding has followed. But we refuse to give up on these students. The world depends on them. And we will be there for them. 

October Updates from Drop in the Bucket

As we are entering into the final quarter of the year, there is a lot happening at DROP. Our drilling team has just wrapped up a large water and sanitation project at our girl’s dorm in Nimule, South Sudan to align with our goal of providing more water wells for schools in Africa.

A Motorized Water System for a Disabled School in Uganda

We installed a motorized solar water system that provides water to not only the dorm, but also taps for the surrounding community and a church-run school next door for about 60 disabled children. They had all previously been using a hand pumped well. But now they have We installed a motorized solar water system that pipes water to not only the dorm, but also provides taps for the surrounding community and a church-run school next door for about 60 disabled children. They had all previously been using a hand pumped well. But now they have taps to deliver their water directly to them.  We also constructed an improved sanitation system and showers for the girls staying in the dorm. 

I5 New Water Wells For Schools in Africa

The drilling team is currently on their way back to the field to close out the year drilling 15 wells for schools and communities in three districts in northern Uganda. 
The dorm has become an important location lately for engaging our students during the second year of covid. Since vaccines are not readily available here, Uganda has kept the schools closed since May. However, South Sudan schools have remained open. And since DROP supports girls with scholarships in both countries, we have used the dorm as a temporary school for our students who were enrolled in Uganda. 

We have brought over teachers from Uganda to focus specifically on math, English and physics. We have also introduced sports, games, gardening and a library with, not only textbooks, but also leisure reading materials.  Also, on a recent trip to the capital to inquire about additional funding opportunities for the education program, we learned that DROP is the only NGO in South Sudan currently supporting O level secondary students with scholarships as part of an ongoing development project. Most all funding these days is aimed at emergency relief or primary schools. 

Last Monday, October 11th, was International Day of the Girl Child. In prior years this has been a big event with various local, national and international organizations participating. This year DROP was one of only two international organizations represented at the event.