The
Rotary Club of Evergreen Receives Awards Grant From Rotary
International
St.
Denis Senior Secondary School and St. Agatha Primary School are
on their way to receiving a water system to
that will improve the quality of health, sanitation, hygiene,
and education of the students attending St. Agatha Primary
School and St. Denis Senior Secondary School in Makondo. The
project engineering, schematic design, and project budget
development has been a collaborative effort between the Masaka
District Water Engineer and the Colorado
School of Mines Humanitarian Engineering Department, Golden,
Colorado.
This project, co-sponsored by The Evergreen Rotary Club (Colorado) and the Kyotera Rotary Club (Uganda),will provide much needed water to 900 students who attend St. Agatha Primary School, the anticipated 500 students who will attend St. Denis Senior Secondary School, and approximately 240 people (representing 40 households) in the immediate vicinity of the schools. The majority of the students attending St. Agatha and St. Denis are poor, orphaned, and vulnerable.
Currently, there exist two shallow wells that serve the primary and secondary schools and the surrounding community. These wells are located approximately 1.5 km from the school sites. To access the first well, the students walk 1.5km, collect water for daily school consumption, and then return, walking uphill with a 5L jerry can on their head (approximately 40 lbs). During the two dry seasons one well reduces in production to a trickle.
Residents
and students either wait in line, often very early in the
morning and for extended periods of time, or travel to the
second well to collect water. There are many safety risks in the
form of both other humans and animals in the water collection
process; these concerns are especially great for primary age
children and females. During the dry season, these risks
increase since students complete their trip before the sun rises
so that they can wait in line for water and return before school
begins. Not only does the water collection process interfere
with the time that is available for instruction but also the
quality of the water is questionable. Students at St. Agatha are
routinely de-wormed to rid them of parasites and protozoa that
are usually found in contaminated water and cause intestinal
infections including diarrhea. Water borne diseases, such as
typhoid, are known to occur amongst the student population.
To read more about this Clean Water Project, click here.
