Project
Ebukhayi Primary School
Project Complete!
Ebukhayi Primary School was established by community parents in 1998. It was taken over by the government in 2013 when primary education was mandated free. With the additional government funding, the school population grew from 84 students to the 515 students it has today.
Students learn mathematics, English, Kiswahili, science, religion, and social studies. There are extracurricular clubs, such as scouting and a young farmers club, that meet each Tuesday afternoon.
The students arrive at school at 7 am when they start general cleaning chores. The students also use this time to go to the river that’s about one kilometer away. Some also bring water from home in the morning. They use some of this water to clean the classrooms before classes start at 8 am. They break for lunch at 12:40 pm and resume afternoon classes at 2 pm.
Students learn mathematics, English, Kiswahili, science, religion, and social studies. There are extracurricular clubs, such as scouting and a young farmers club, that meet each Tuesday afternoon.
The students arrive at school at 7 am when they start general cleaning chores. The students also use this time to go to the river that’s about one kilometer away. Some also bring water from home in the morning. They use some of this water to clean the classrooms before classes start at 8 am. They break for lunch at 12:40 pm and resume afternoon classes at 2 pm.
There’s no other water source on school grounds, so students have to walk to the river each time they need more water. Since the river is so far away, students miss out on a lot of valuable study time and it gets hard to stick to the regular academic schedule. And because this is an open river, the water is filthy and dangerous for drinking.
“We normally have absentees often in the school due to waterborne diseases such as diarrhea,” said Deputy Headteacher Okwaro.
With such a long walk for water that isn’t even clean, the school has been forced to sacrifice cleanliness. There is no water kept by the latrines for hand-washing and cleaning up, and the school cuts back on cleaning classrooms when students have an especially busy schedule that does not afford long trips to find water.
“We normally have absentees often in the school due to waterborne diseases such as diarrhea,” said Deputy Headteacher Okwaro.
With such a long walk for water that isn’t even clean, the school has been forced to sacrifice cleanliness. There is no water kept by the latrines for hand-washing and cleaning up, and the school cuts back on cleaning classrooms when students have an especially busy schedule that does not afford long trips to find water.
What we can do:
Training
Training on good hygiene habits will be held for two days. The facilitator will use PHAST (participatory hygiene and sanitation transformation), ABCD (asset-based community development), CTC (child to child), lectures, group discussions, and handouts to teach health topics and ways to promote good practices within the school. The CTC method will prepare students to lead other students into healthy habits, as well as kickstart a CTC club for the school.
Hand-washing Stations
There are currently no hand-washing stations on school grounds.
Two hand-washing stations will be delivered to the school, and the CTC club will fill them with water on a daily basis and make sure there is always a cleaning agent such as soap or ash.
VIP Latrines
There are only six pit latrines per gender, so the school is in need of a few more.
Two triple-door latrines will be constructed with local materials that the school will help gather. Three doors will serve the girls while the other three serve the boys. And with a new source of water on school grounds, students and staff should have enough to keep these new latrines clean.
Rainwater Catchment Tank
A 50,000-liter rainwater catchment tank will help alleviate the water crisis at this school. The school will also help gather the needed materials such as sand, rocks, and water for mixing cement. Once finished, this tank can begin catching rainfall that will be used by the school’s students and staff. Walking to the river and drinking dirty water will no longer be part of the students’ daily schedule.
We and the school strongly believe that with this assistance, standards will significantly improve. These higher standards will translate to better academic performance!
Training on good hygiene habits will be held for two days. The facilitator will use PHAST (participatory hygiene and sanitation transformation), ABCD (asset-based community development), CTC (child to child), lectures, group discussions, and handouts to teach health topics and ways to promote good practices within the school. The CTC method will prepare students to lead other students into healthy habits, as well as kickstart a CTC club for the school.
Hand-washing Stations
There are currently no hand-washing stations on school grounds.
Two hand-washing stations will be delivered to the school, and the CTC club will fill them with water on a daily basis and make sure there is always a cleaning agent such as soap or ash.
VIP Latrines
There are only six pit latrines per gender, so the school is in need of a few more.
Two triple-door latrines will be constructed with local materials that the school will help gather. Three doors will serve the girls while the other three serve the boys. And with a new source of water on school grounds, students and staff should have enough to keep these new latrines clean.
Rainwater Catchment Tank
A 50,000-liter rainwater catchment tank will help alleviate the water crisis at this school. The school will also help gather the needed materials such as sand, rocks, and water for mixing cement. Once finished, this tank can begin catching rainfall that will be used by the school’s students and staff. Walking to the river and drinking dirty water will no longer be part of the students’ daily schedule.
We and the school strongly believe that with this assistance, standards will significantly improve. These higher standards will translate to better academic performance!
0.299222 latitude, 34.659915 longitude
H2O for Life is not a WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) project implementer. We have partnerships with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) implementing WASH in Schools projects around the world. Our NGO partners match funds needed for each school project. We also have a generous donor that provides us with an interest-free loan that, along with matching funds, allows for many projects to be started or possibly even completed before total funds have been raised. In rare situations we reserve the right to reallocate funds to alternate project(s).
Questions? Ask us at 651-756-7577 or info@h2oforlifeschools.org.
June 11, 2021
Ebukhayi Project Complete
Ebukhayi Primary School in Kenya now has access to a new source of safe, clean water thanks to the completion of their rain tank, which has the ability to collect...
