In Uganda’s Ibanda District Parish of Irimya people in some remote villages earn less than $2 per day, have low literacy rates and education often no more than Grade 2 level and for some up to Grade 5 level. Many have had to walk over 3 km to fetch water from contaminated sources demanding time and energy away from any school or daily routines. Once they have brought home the water, the people in the Parish have suffered an extremely high rate of waterborne disease.
Thanks to some Rotary clubs in District 5040 and a local club in Uganda, the villagers now have a Gravity Flow System (GFS) of clean water flowing down in pipes from nearby hills to the seven villages in the valley below, a system which the local villagers constructed in good part themselves. The water pipeline system passes through a jungle forest to a reservoir tank of 45,000 liters of clean water. From the tank the water travels by a network of pipes to 37 taps for the 7,000 people living in the seven communities.
The Rotary Club of Mbarara, Uganda, partnered with the Rotary Club of Tsawwassen, which contributed US$40,000, the Rotary Clubs of Vancouver, US$10,000, Richmond Sunrise, US$5,000 plus The Rotary Foundation through District 5040 Global Grant of US$20,000, The Rotary Foundation World Fund, US$19,200 and other District 5040 clubs, US$17,800.. Rotary, in turn, partnered with ACTS Uganda and Ibanda District Local Government to complete the US$111,700 Rotary WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) project.
The villagers excavated, laid, and backfilled the 29 km of pipeline from the water source to the tap stands delivering safe, clean water within 500 meters of most of the 738 village households and the 15 institutions, including three schools, requiring at most a 30-minute round trip walk rather than one of hours which, in the past, supplied contaminated water.
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The project also included training for 7,000 villagers in effective sanitation and hygiene practices with the clean water. By reducing waterborne diseases with the clean water supply and good personal care practices, school attendance has improved so children can learn their way out of poverty and the villagers can achieve greater socio-economic resilience. Menstrual hygiene management training and WASH club training in the five schools was also provided. Almost all households now have their own latrines and approximately most have handwashing stations.
Most villages have each continued a functional water committee trained to manage and maintain WASH facilities, ensuring continued service.
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