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.

International Women’s Day 2021

Strong women seem to be an inspiring theme of 2021.

Today is International Women’s Day 2021, in January, Kamala Harris was sworn in as the first female Vice President of the United States, and the inauguration ceremony was highlighted by the breathtaking words of teenage poet laureate Amanda Gorman. A month later, on an entirely different planet, teams of impressive women play key roles in the Mars Rover project – the Deputy Operations Manager is Megan Lin, Carrie Bridge is the Science Operations Team Chief, and Erisa (Hines) Stilley is Entry, Descent and Landing Systems Engineer and Operations Co-Lead, to name just a few.

In that spirit on this International Women’s Day, we at DROP would like to acknowledge the strong females that we encounter in our work on a daily basis… 

For All The Women Living in Villagers in Uganda

The women in the villages raising their families while confronted with immense struggles. They may lack water, or power and sometimes even sufficient rain to grow crops. But they show up anyway, wrangle their kids off to school and somehow get the job done – day after day. They understand that it is our collective our responsibility to raise the next generation of leaders – the ones who will take the torch we carry and propel the world forward. 

To The Girls in Our Education Program

To the adolescent girls in our education program who are being given the opportunity to attend secondary school through our scholarship program.  They may study by lantern and eat beans at every meal, but they are dedicated to meeting any challenge and rising to new levels.

To The Teachers All Across Africa

To the teachers who are working to provide a positive educational experience under the most difficult of circumstances. 

And, last but not least, to the women on our own DROP team – the education officers, the administrative assistants, the cooks who travel with the drillers and live in tents and create meals over collected firewood, and the women who manage our DROP dormitories, nurturing the girls who live there as if they are their own children. 

Many of these women work day in and day out in their “day jobs” and then go home to take care of their own families, tending to children, cooking meals, washing clothes and the many other thankless but crucial activities that often silently fall on the laps of women. 

To All of The Women Making The World Better Every Day

Today we are inspired by a group of professional women we encountered in Gulu, who organized a ladies afternoon to celebrate International Women’s Day. In the culture here, men cook the meals and women are encouraged to do other activities with their friends on this day. These women played games from their adolescence – jumping rope, playing cards and laughing together for an afternoon. 

But they all knew they would soon return to their precious and irreplaceable role as the glue, the water, the fertilizer and the sunshine that keeps their world growing, evolving and pushing forward despite obstacles we can’t even imagine. 

Please take a moment today to remember these women. And please don’t forget – even the pocket change we dismiss on a daily basis can play a crucial role in easing their burden. Their jobs don’t come with a welcoming gala or interplanetary adventures, but with your help, tomorrow they may. 

Campaign: 20 Water Wells for 20 Health Centers in Africa

During the last few months of 2020, Drop In The Bucket launched an initiative to drill twenty water wells at twenty health centers in Africa. These water wells would be drilled in the Pader district of northern Uganda. The campaign was a direct response to the Covid-19 pandemic, addressing the grim reality that many of the region’s health centers were struggling to provide clean water for their patients. No water to wash their hands. No water to ingest medicine. No water to facilitate treatments, and no water to help with general hygiene and cleanliness.

The Situation – A Lack of Clean Water with Dire Consequences.

The situation was dire and required immediate attention, so we started an online campaign. The response from our donors was immediate. Within just a few months we had all the funding we needed to drill those twenty wells – and more. Our drillers are currently in the field, and work is progressing fast and efficiently. We expect another three wells to be completed this week, and there are no plans to stop working until all the health centers on our list have clean water.

What difference can one well make?

Latigi Health Center II is a new facility, built in a recently updated building that houses both the healthcare facilities and staff quarters. But Latigi does not have running water. The only nearby water source is a well that broke down several months ago. This means that the health center staff have to walk several miles to a distant community and stand in a long line at the well, then walk back carrying the water. Without this water, they can’t clean their instruments, they can’t clean the facilities, and they can’t treat patients. This is also the only water they have to drink.

One Nurse’s Story

Salva Abaa is a nursing assistant at Latigi. He cares deeply about helping his community, but these days he spends far more time hauling water than treating patients. “The people who come here suffer a lot,” he tells us. “They come to my home asking for drinking water.”

He is more than happy to help out when he can, but with so little water available, he can’t even clean his cup and dish after each use. The Ugandan Ministry of Health recommends that staff thoroughly clean and sanitize every health center twice a day. Salva and his coworkers struggle to maintain these standards. But without an easily accessible water source, the extra labor leaves them exhausted.

Due to the lack of running water at the facility, Latigi is not treated as a priority by the government agency in charge of distributing medicine. Salva says that deliveries are regularly late, and the center is inadequately stocked. This means that even after working hard to gather water for the facility, they sometimes have to turn patients away. This is usually due to a lack of medicine. For Salva – and the countless healthcare workers like him – not being able to help people in need is the toughest part of his job.

20 Water Wells For 20 Health Centers in Africa

Twenty water wells for health centers in Africa is not enough. We can’t stop until no patient is turned away – and clean water is where we can make the greatest difference. As we know from our own battles with Covid-19, personal and social hygiene are the easiest ways to stop the spread of communicable diseases, and we plan on continuing to raise money so we can keep drilling at more health centers and schools throughout the pandemic, and beyond.

For a moment, think about how difficult it is to start your day without brushing your teeth. Or how you’d feel preparing your family’s food without being able to wash your hands all day. Or merely the thought of turning on your computer without that first cup of morning coffee. Think about how exhausting housework can be… Now think about carrying ten, fifteen, twenty gallons of water several miles – all before you can even start your workday.

Can we really make a difference from the other side of the planet? Just ask the doctors, nurses, and healthcare professionals who are working around the clock to provide relief to people not only suffering from Covid-19 but countless other ailments we take for granted. Take Salva’s word for it – Africa needs water wells and every dollar helps. Thank you for your continued support. To learn more or donate, visit our donation page.

Today is Giving Tuesday. This is an opportunity to redirect your attention away from the constant stream of consumerism and focus on those in need. 

This year has brought many changes to all of our lives but one thing remains the same. There are families in Africa that need clean water. And here at DROP we are thankful for our loyal supporters who share our mission to help them. Together we are bringing water, education and development to rural Africa.

And in that spirit, we are gearing up to begin our current water project: 20 wells for 20 clinics in 2020. The team is loading the trucks now and heading out to begin drilling next week. We have almost reached our target of funding for 20 wells. But we need your help. Click here to support water for a clinic or health center in northern Uganda.

Ogago Health Center II – Where the security guard has to leave her post to fetch water

When Christina Owila applied to be the security guard at Ogago Health Center II, she knew her job would include creating a safe and welcoming space for anyone seeking care at the center and potentially heading off any would-be thieves. What she didn’t know was that most of her energy would go towards keeping the center stocked with water.

While there is a school near to the health center that has a well, it is a shallow well rather than a deep borehole well like the ones that Drop in the Bucket drills. It has also been broken for more than a year. During the rainy season, this open well floods with polluted standing water, making the water unsafe to drink. The closest safe water source is a well at the distant trading center, a grueling walk in the hot sun. The trading center’s well also charges for the use of the well, a common practice in Uganda.

“Even Dirty Water is Better Than No Water”

Christine wakes up hours before Ogago opens to make sure the center has the water it needs for the day. Whenever possible she makes the long walk to the training center, but money, time restrictions, and high demand mean that more often than not the open well is her only option. The patients at Ogago desperately need water to drink and use to take their medications, and new mothers need safe water so they can sponge bathe their newborns. Using water from the open well puts both new moms and their babies at risk of infection, but any water is better than no water.

Cecilia Avero is the director of Ogago Health Center II. She works tirelessly to find solutions for the water problem, but the center simply does not have the funds for a sustainable solution. The added strain of the coronavirus pandemic has made a difficult situation significantly worse. The new guidelines from Uganda’s Ministry of Health mean that the center has to be thoroughly cleaned and sanitized twice a day, but this added workload also means more time spent walking for water.

A Water Well Would Change Everything

Both Cecilia and Christine do everything they can to make sure their patients have clean water and sanitary working conditions for the medical staff, and the burden of the work and keeping the space clean is a lot to deal with. A well at the health center would change everything for the staff at Ogago and would allow them to spend their days with confidence and allow them to focus on their patients without the additional burden of walking for water.

How Can You Help?

Drop in the Bucket is currently running a campaign to raise the money for 20 wells at health centers in Pader district. By providing these healthcare specialists with clean water we can help them better serve their communities and help save lives. But we need your help!

While a single donation may not seem like it will make much of an impact, together we can turn every drop in the bucket into a wave that will change lives for the better. Please consider making a donation so that Cecilia and Christine can do what they do best: provide a safe healing space for their community.

To help Christine and the staff at Ogago Health Center, please visit our 20 Wells for 2020 Clinics campaign.

Water Wells for Health Centers in Uganda

Around the world, millions are navigating the COVID-19 pandemic. And in rural Uganda communities have the added challenge of living without access to clean water. One place lack of water becomes a striking concern is rural health centers and clinics.

Rural clinics are the first line of health defense for remote communities throughout Africa. These local medical facilities, often staffed with only nurses, midwives or medical assistants, are the thing that stands between life and death for vulnerable and sick community members.

These are small but crucial institutions. They may be stark, with few instruments and minimal staff but they are a true lifeline.

The Deadly Lack of Clean Water

Since the majority of households have only a bicycle for transportation, each day, in villages throughout Uganda, sick, injured and pregnant patients are walked, wheeled or physically carried into these rudimentary facilities with life-threatening conditions such as malaria, typhoid, infections, and yes… flus and viruses.

Although there are many challenges faced by the tireless healthcare workers, one of the biggest concerns is lack of clean water.

Imagine having to collect unclean water to clean a wound, give a feverish child some medicine or clean off a newborn baby. And now, as the COVID-19 pandemic rages, imagine adding the responsibility of protecting the community and patients from the deadly and highly-contagious virus.

Last month, as we wrapped up our most recent drilling projects, the local leaders from Pader district requested a meeting with us. They drove two-hours to our office to discuss the possibility of DROP drilling water for some of their desperate rural health centers. And although we did not have the funding at the time, we knew we had to try and help. This is why we are reaching out to you. We know times are tough for everyone right now, but if you are able to help, we could use your support.

How you can help!

So, for the remainder of 2020, DROP is dedicating our entire focus to raising money to drill wells for 20 health centers in Pader District of northern Uganda.

Please join us and support our campaign – 20 wells for 20 clinics in 2020.

Thank you for your support.

The Difficulties of Working in Africa During Covid

The COVID-19 crisis has had an enormous impact on the whole world for most of this year. Working in Africa during Covid was always going to be challenging. But here in Uganda, life has been at a standstill. Schools have been closed since March and gatherings of over a dozen people are banned. All of the country’s borders have been tightly shut down. Since the need for clean water is so urgent, Drop in the Bucket has been allowed to keep drilling, although under strict guidelines.

We recently finished drilling 12 wells for communities and schools in Pader and Nwoya districts of northern Uganda. And, last month, we were given the green light to finally begin our community trainings. With guidance from the local Covid-19 task forces, we have now completed training all of the village water management committees. These groups were trained on strategies for proper care and maintenance of the new wells. The participants were required to wear face masks and sit in marked positions that adhere to the social distancing guidelines during the trainings. We also included an additional hygiene component that focuses on COVID-19 related procedures for operating the hand pumps and keeping the community safe. Water users are also required to wear face masks around the wells at all times, avoid congregating, and wash their hands before pumping water.

It has been a long three months of working without community involvement. Because of COVID-19, the communities were not even allowed to watch drilling progress. This was not normal and we missed them.

Our 20 wells for 20 Health Centers in Uganda Campaign

Our 2020 campaign will be aimed at providing clean water for 20 clinics and health centers in northern Uganda. Please consider supporting this campaign as we work to help these communities stay healthy and fight the virus. Working in Africa during Covid may be challenging, but at Drop in the Bucket we have never backed away from a challenge.