Clean water for 917 households Kenya

Thank you for supporting this project bringing access to clean water to families at home and children at school.  A basic human right and essential for creating a healthy community.

Earlier this month, Brighter Communities Worldwide celebrated Global Handwashing Day. This global day is celebrated annually on October 15th to raise awareness about the importance of washing hands as a means to prevent transmission of disease and to help keep people healthy.

Across 9 schools in the county, staff and volunteers distributed soap and joined the students to go through the important steps of handwashing.  They also made an evaluation of different parts of the school where water is needed – for example tippy tappy’s for handwashing at the latrines and water for drinking and cooking with at the kitchenn. Students and teachers finished the celebrations planting trees in the school grounds.

Caroline Chelangat, the schools education co-ordinator explains that tree planting is included in the healthy schools programme as part of actions to tackle climate change.   Firewood is the main source of fuel for cooking and as a result de-forestation is a major environmental issue in Kenya.  As part of Brighter Communities Worldwide’s education programmes in the schools and community we are supporting tree planting of indigenous species to help with forest restoration.

Trees store carbon and provide oxygen which helps reduce carbon emissions and so they are an important part of the fight against climate change.  Planting trees is also a vital part of protecting water sources. Without trees, rainwater runs off land too quickly causing soil erosion and creating mud streams that contaminate clean water sources.

So far this year, over 11,500 trees have been planted across 61 schools.

This month we have also had a team of volunteers in Kenya from Ireland and Australia.  They have joined staff and local volunteers in helping deliver many of our programmes including stove installations, lifeskills courses, remote emergency care, business training and trauma care.  During the weekend, they joined the staff team to plant 50 seedlings on Tulwap hill.  These will be added to by the local community who also farm in the area and will look after the seedlings until they establish.

If you would like to support this project again, then please save November 28^th in your calendar – this is Giving Tuesday and GlobalGiving have a bonus funds of $1.2million USD available on that day.  The more funds you donate, the more bonus funds our projects will receive.  Thank you.

Thank you for supporting this project to ensure access to clean water for families at home and children at school.  In our last report, communities were anxiously awaiting rainfall and you will be happy to hear that the rains finally arrived in April and crops could be planted. This is later than expected.

Work on the Lamaiyat spring protection we wrote about in our last report has continued with construction and masonry work progressing.  Earlier this month photographs show progress during a visit to the site from Irish and UK visitors.  The area has been cleared of vegetation and materials have arrived on site.  The area around the water spring has been dug and walls constructed around it.  A special type of hardcore has been put in place which is a mixture of sizes and will help to filter the water and won’t absorb it.  Next steps are to plaster the walls, return the soil to the area, plumb and build the collection points in place where the community can come to collect water from taps.

To mark World Environment day on June 5^th, the Lamaiyat community group planted trees at the water spring with the visitors.  Trees play a vital part in protecting the water source.  Without trees, rainwater runs off too quickly, eroding fertile soil and creating mud streams that contaminate the water sources.

The role of the community group is very important to the success of the overall project.  This group are involved from the very beginning and are part of the planning, promotion and construction.  The community share the costs with Brighter Communities Worldwide by way of finance and labour.  They will take ownership of managing the spring protection when it is completed and in the future will work on further plans to extend access to more people in the community.

This spring protection will benefit 520 people and will also be improved to benefit the nearby schools, Kebenti Primary and Secondary in the future.  The schools population is 598 girls and 912 boys.