This is October update of the water hunting mission launched in February this same year 2014. Its the progress of the same project written about in May under the title " Water! Water! Water! of this blog.
Every morning at the assembly, our school children are reminded of how "water is life". They have to make sure they take care of water as much as they do for their life.
Every morning at the assembly, our school children are reminded of how "water is life". They have to make sure they take care of water as much as they do for their life.
This year is unique at our school because we are thinking and doing a lot of how to improve our water safety. Rubanda community knows little about the difference between seasons of summer and winter. Because it has both seasons mixed up. One day may be rainy the other may be sunny the year long except for the months of June and July which are harvesting sunny hot months of the year.
Though the seasons may be a mixture of rains and sun, water can be a real problem. Our children can describe it best because they feel its pinch more than any body else. Sometimes they have had to leave classes and walk miles away in search of water for their breakfast or a meal. They also know quite well how washing their clothes is a big headache when it comes to getting water. To show you how serious the problem is in the list of items required by the school administration from each child who enrolls to the school there is a five liter jerrycan. This is at the top of the list for water emergency. Each kid knows quite well what to do when the whistle for water search is brown. That means water emergency break out. Other times these kids have to carry their clothes on their heads and shoulders and go hunting for possible streams or water catchments areas in the neighborhood. This is safety risky and health hazardous. But as water is life there are choices in Rubanda.
Though the seasons may be a mixture of rains and sun, water can be a real problem. Our children can describe it best because they feel its pinch more than any body else. Sometimes they have had to leave classes and walk miles away in search of water for their breakfast or a meal. They also know quite well how washing their clothes is a big headache when it comes to getting water. To show you how serious the problem is in the list of items required by the school administration from each child who enrolls to the school there is a five liter jerrycan. This is at the top of the list for water emergency. Each kid knows quite well what to do when the whistle for water search is brown. That means water emergency break out. Other times these kids have to carry their clothes on their heads and shoulders and go hunting for possible streams or water catchments areas in the neighborhood. This is safety risky and health hazardous. But as water is life there are choices in Rubanda.
There is some green light this year. The USA Yamba Abaana has come in with an idea to make a difference. This difference is captured in two alternatives: Renovating the old rain water harvesting system as the immediate solution and identifying new possible ways to get constant water supply by having a drilled water well for constant water supply.
These ideas started to develop some years back when the current system was fixed. We are glad that this year the Yamba Abaana US has come in with more focus and began raising funds at the beginning of this year. We are also pleased to let you know that the implementation that began few weeks ago is soon to be completed.
Thank you Yamba Abaana USA and to you all our friends who have made this possible. The renovated system can now supply water to more kids and for a longer period of time within a year. We estimate the new harvested water capacity to be able to cover over five months of with normal rains. This means, there is still a great need to have other reliable sources of water to provide enough water security.
Thank you Yamba Abaana USA and to you all our friends who have made this possible. The renovated system can now supply water to more kids and for a longer period of time within a year. We estimate the new harvested water capacity to be able to cover over five months of with normal rains. This means, there is still a great need to have other reliable sources of water to provide enough water security.
Please enjoy some of the pictures taken during the renovation of the water harvesting process.
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| Water tank of 5000 liters delivered to the school: Oct 2014 |
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| Renovating the old system: Oct. 2014 |
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| Replacing a 1500 tank with those 5000 one: Oct. 2014 |
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| Improving water harvesting with a 5000 bigger tank |
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| Making sure no drop of water is wasted: October 2014 |
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| Gutters are seen all over to make sure no drop is lost Oct. 2014 |
Thank you all who contributed to this project.
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