Kiembeni Estate Primary School is a public school in Mombasa, Kenya's second-largest city on the Indian Ocean coast. It serves 1,500 students in grades one through nine. Many of them come from Mombasa's informal settlements, crowded neighborhoods where most homes have no running water or toilets. The school partners with Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO), a locally founded and led Kenyan organization that also serves as one of our key implementing partners. SHOFCO has built school sanitation facilities in 60 schools across Mombasa, Kisumu, and Nairobi.
The school's toilets were built for a fraction of today's enrollment. Only eight toilet doors, four for girls and four for boys, serve all 1,500 students. That works out to nearly 200 children for every toilet. Long lines eat up break time, and many children simply go without. Overcrowded toilets are hard to keep clean, and illness spreads quickly when hundreds of students share each one.
The problem doesn't end when students go home. Families in Mombasa's informal settlements pay about 8 cents each time they use a public toilet. For a family of six, that cost adds up every day, so many children have no safe place to go at all. Girls carry the heaviest burden. Without a clean, private place to change during their periods, many girls stay home for several days each month and fall behind in class.
SHOFCO will build a new bathroom block on school grounds, designed to fit exactly what the school needs. A safe, private toilet at school removes these barriers in the one place every child goes every day. Students can use the bathroom, wash their hands, and get back to class. Girls can manage their periods at school with dignity, and healthier students miss fewer days.
The brand-new bathroom block at Kiembeni Estate Primary will be clean, safe, and private, with:
- Eight new toilets with doors that lock, four for girls and four for boys
- Two private showers for girls, so they can stay in school during their periods
- Sinks with running water so everyone can wash their hands
- Water tanks so the bathrooms always have the water they need
SHOFCO will train students participating in a school health club to keep the facilities clean and lead hygiene lessons across the school. Members learn about handwashing, safe water use, and menstrual hygiene, then share these habits with classmates and take them home to their families.
H2O for Life partners with experienced NGO organizations around the world that build and support clean water, sanitation, and hygiene education projects in schools. These NGO partners cover half the total cost of every project funded through H2O for Life.
When students raise money for a project, 90% of the funds go directly to the project, and 10% supports the work that makes the project possible. This includes choosing trusted partners, managing funds responsibly, checking on projects, and reporting back so students can see the impact of their work.
This helps ensure every project is done well, stays sustainable, and truly changes lives.
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.
