Underground water tanks installed!

Posted by: David Omondi

Hello Friends,

It has been exciting and challenging few months at Akili Preparatory School for Girls. With your support we were able to pay for drilling of a permanent well at Akili School In Obambo village. Unfortunately, the drilling did not yield sufficient quantities of water at the 100 meters depth that the geosurveyor recommended. Having failed to strike the water, we conducted a 2nd geological survey on a different spot in the compound and drilled another 100 meters to no avail. We were very disappointed to lose $12,000 because we are in dire need of water both for use at the school and for the community members who are walking long distances to fetch water from nearby shallow streams and wells. With no permanent source of clean water at our boarding school, there are higher chances of our girls using contaminated water and getting sick.

Because of your incredible support and generosity that saw us raise over $1800 from 37 different donors, we earned a permanent spot on GlobalGiving Org platform. This came at the right time because a few weeks after failing to strike water, we received $17,000 in grant from GlobalGiving Org!! At this time, our girls were already in school and the only water we had was 15,000 litres in our water tanks that  was running out. We were torn between drilling at a 3rd spot and building water tanks at the school. Afraid to drill and miss water for the 3rd time, we decided to construct underground water tanks to solve the immediate water problem at the school.

We are happy to report that we have successfully installed water tanks with  capacity of 40,000 litres at the school. When added to the 15,000 surface tanks that we have, our total water capacity is 55,000 litres, enough to last us an entire school term. All this water is harvested from the roofs of our classroom and dormitory blocks when it rains. Because of this, we have been able to keep 26 girls at our boarding school. They use the clean water for drinking, washing their utensils and uniforms, cooking at the school kitchen, bathing and cleaning the classrooms.

In the meantime, we are going to hire 3 different experts to conduct a thorough hydrogeological survey to find out if we can successfully drill and strike water at different spot on the school compound. If yes, we will raise funds and attempt to drill again as drilling will provide a permanent solution to the water problem in this community.

Our plan now is to construct bathrooms for our girls to shower. Currently, the girls are bathing in an open space that is behind the kitchen on the school campus. Over the year, girls have reported that they sometimes see men from the village hiding in nearby bushes to watch them bathe. It is our priority right now to provide the girls with a private, safe, and clean space to shower. With the construction of new showers, leftover water can be filtrated and used to water Akili’s 300 fruit trees and flush eco-toilets. We have to be especially careful not to waste the 15,000 liters used monthly. The showers and filtration system will create both a safer environment for students and work toward conservation. The fruit tree program will be used to provide nutrition to the students and will be an income-generating initiative for the school. Selling fruit to the local community will provide a sustainable way of making money for the school. Business and farming practices, along with environmental lessons, will also be taught to the students to increase learning. The rainy season is allowing the trees to flourish right now, but more water will be needed to care for them moving forward.

We want to sincerely thank you for your continued support and for helping provide safe water to keep our girls in School. It is an honor to partner with incredible people like you to support the education of underprivileged girls.
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Thank you!

Drilling at 2nd Spot

Construction of underground water tanks

Underground water tank

Underground tanks installed

Water harvested from the roof