In Busoga Trust’s mission to increase access to clean water in communities, new emphasis has been put on rural schools, as it was found in our earlier research that the lack of access to safe clean water and sanitation among schools, especially in Kayunga District, has been a major cause of poor academic performance and increased school dropouts in both government and privately owned institutions.
This week, Busoga Trust rehabilitated the borehole at Kiribedda C/U Primary School, in Nazigo Sub-County, Kayunga District. The borehole had been non-functional for five months, which led to the pupils walking 3km to collect dirty water from a traditional well. This resulted in the school's pupils suffering from an array of water-borne diseases including bilharzia, diarrhoea and typhoid, leading to poor school attendance and damaging the longer term prospects of those young minds.
(Left: Pupils collecting water from the traditional source. Centre: Pupils carrying water 3km from the source to school. Right: The new rehabilitated water source close to the Primary School!)
Read what the Head Teacher, Madam Kwagala Kaana had to say about the impact of the borehole rehabilitation:
Our Borehole had been nonfunctional for five months and our children were suffering to walk long distances of about 3 kilometers to fetch the dirty water from a traditional well. Sometimes they could miss classes due to contracting water borne diseases like diarrhoea, bilharzia and typhoid which adversely affected their health hence failure to attend school.
The teachers at school were also having a hard time because of lack of water, the pupils would miss meals and this affected the overall running of the school programs. But now, all our worries are gone; we now have safe drinking water here at school, the enrolment of the pupils at school and the general running of the school programs has been boosted. Thank you Busoga Trust for repairing our Borehole.”
Alongside rehabilitating the borehole, Busoga Trust conducted Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) training for the school's pupils, and also advised on hand washing with soap, in order to promote a safe water chain.
(Photo: Girls at the school showing off their handmade and reusable pads following their MHM workshop)
Here is what one of the senior teachers, Suzan, had to say about the challenges faced by girls at her school:
Being a rural school, most of the families can’t afford to buy sanitary pads for their children due to their low income status; this had resulted in increase of school dropouts and absenteeism. Some girls would use a dirty cloth to pad themselves which is unhealthy, some didn’t know how to manage puberty, but after Busoga Trust’s intervention, the girls enrolment in school has been boosted, they were trained on how to hand-sew reusable sanitary pads thereby making their menstrual days less stressful.
Thank you Busoga Trust for upholding the girl Child’s Rights to a healthy and sound Education!
(Photo: Children at the Primary School celebrating their new borehole.)
If you would like to support a project such as this one at a Primary School, please get in touch with Leah, by emailing ukhq@busogatrust.co.uk or calling our office number.