Kajiado, Kenya
Partner: POWER (Pastoralists Organization for Water and Environmental Research)
Project Code: KEPOWER2018
Students at three schools in Kajiado, Kenya miss hours of class every day to walk several kilometers to get water for their families. This makes it extremely difficult for them to stay on track with their education and may result in having to drop out of school entirely. Water borne diseases are the most common cause for sickness and death for young children in the area. This year, we will also be constructing 24 household community tanks. This project will provide approximately 2,000 people with access to potable water.
What can you do to help?
Join schools from around the world in fundraising for this year’s School Challenge. Read about fundraising ideas to be inspired to bring clean water to Kenya.
Who implements the project in Kenya?
POWER CEO, Sammy Oleku and his staff look forward to implementing this years school challenge for 2017-18. We have worked with Sammy and his team since 2008, completing 288 Rain Water harvesting tanks at schools and homes. POWER works hand and hand with the Maasai. Community members are involved in every aspect of all projects, and get their hands dirty in the construction of the tanks with Artisans, Samuel Kimani and Danson Kinyanjui. Antony Semetu, a field officer for POWER is experienced in community organization and training. POWER has trained countless members of CIG’s (community interest groups made up of women) and students in WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene). Planning Coordinator / Program Officer, Mary Njeri has worked within the Maasai community for over 10 years.
What will the funds raised support?
- Community and CIG organization
- Construction of 3 x 30,000 litre rainwater harvesting tanks at 3 schools COST: 4,647$ CAD per well – total 13,941$ CAD
- Construction of 24 x 10,000 litre community tanks COST: 1,800$ CAD per well – total 33,600$ CAD
- Construction of roofing and eaves required for all rainwater harvesting tanks
- WASH training to 27 CIG’s and training in water management and utilization (approximately 270 women)
- WASH training to students and staff at 3 schools
- Ongoing Monitoring and evaluation
Schools from around the world raised funds and followed the progress in real time of this project, at the beginning of the school year in September 2017 until June 2018.Check out how you and your school can be involved in this year’s School Challenge.
Contact us at info@ryanswell.ca for more information!
Here is our February School Challenge Update
Ellen B. with the students at Kimelok school, in front of the 30,000 L rainwater harvesting tank. Even though it is the dry season, enough rain has fallen since the tank was built that they will have sufficient drinking water and handwashing water to last until the rains come in May.
During a monitoring trip this past January, the Ryan’s Well team was able to see completed project at the Kimelok School which is a Day and Boarding school with 210 students, grades 1-8.
In 2016, 78 of the girls walked many kilometers to the District government office to ask for clean water for their school. The water situation had gotten so bad that parents had withdrawn some of the girls from the school.
L-R, Celestine, Leah, Naipanoi, Simanka, and Raeli; mothers of children in the school who all received water tanks for their households.
The old tank was cracked and leaking at the base, and also the cover had disintegrated leaving the clean water exposed to dust and other contaminants.The boarding school girls were limited to one 2-gallon bucket of drinking water each to last for 2 weeks.
The closest source of clean water is in Najire, about a 12 km walk from the school. Dirty water is accessible from a dam that is a few kilometers away.
Students at Kimelok now have clean water for a handwashing station outside of their latrines. The gift of a water tank means not only clean water to drink but also improved hygiene for the students.
Here is our March School Challenge Update
The children wait in line by the tank to get some drinking water. They have to have their own drinking vessel. This boy was using his lunch plate for drinking.
Olendoko school is a day school with 330 children in primary school (grades 1-8) and 120 kindergarten and pre-school children.
The school has an old concrete tank that was built by the state but it is poorly constructed and cannot hold the water. They were having a truck bring 10,000L of water three times per semester. This is really expensive for the school. The closest source of clean water is in Najire which is a 14km walk.
Children on their lunch break waiting by the tank for some drinking water.
Now that they have a new 30,000L tank, they will be able to save rainwater to meet their needs. Even though they have this tank, the children still carry a small jug of dam water from home to the school to contribute to the water needed for cleaning and cooking. A school this size has a great demand for clean water.
Students of Olendoko School saying goodbye to the visitors. They were so happy to have RWF come to their school to see the new water tank.
Before they received the new tank, they had only 150 students, but the parents are now sending the children to this school because it has better water. The average family in the region has 10 children and most go to school in the early primary grades. More boys than girls carry on into the higher grades because the girls have more duties at home.
A student fills the water vessel to be used in the kitchen for the school. The spigot to the tank is accessed through a trap door at the base of the tank. This allows the spigot to be closed off so that it can’t be used without permission and it can’t be broken by students playing with it.
Here is our April School Challenge Update
Older boys in the 8th grade were getting ready to write their exams for entering high school. There are very few girls in this class because at this age they are seen as needed at home to do household chores and carry water.
Olodungoro Primary School is a large school of 311 day students, boys and girls, from pre-school to grade 8. The children range in age from 4 yrs to 18 yrs old. There are 11 teachers for the 11 grades. Some of the teachers live at the school, so the clean water is good for them as well.
The 30,000L tank at the school was completed in July 2017 and is holding just enough for the children to have clean water now. The tank will be completely filled in the rainy season. The water is collected off the roof of one of the classroom buildings. The new tank means that the students have water to drink during the day and they can wash their hands after they use the latrines. Being able to wash their hands helps students and teachers avoid getting sick and missing days of school.
The 30,000 L tank that Ryan’s Well built at the school. The water comes off the roof of the building and travels into the tank by PVC eaves trough.
Before they received the concrete tank, the school kept the water in black PVC tanks which get very hot under the African sun. The water cannot stay fresh and tasting good in the old tanks. The clean water was delivered by truck at a great expense to the school. The closest source of clean water is at Najire, which is an 11 km walk from the school. The clean water at Najire is actually piped from another town more than 40 km away! Clean water is scarce in this part of Kenya.
6th grade students greeting Ryan’s Well and thanking everyone for the donations that made the new water tank possible.
Some of the older women from the community around the school came to thank Ryan’s Well Foundation for providing clean water. These women are the grandmothers of students in the school. They are particularly thankful because carrying water from the clean source in Najire is very difficult when you are older.
Our Final Check-In
Hello School Challenge participants,
Thank you so much for your hard work and commitment to the Ryan’s Well Foundation School Challenge this year! We are so happy to see all of the Kenya projects completed because of your support. We want to send a big thank you to the 69 schools who participated this year.
As the school year is coming to a close, so is our 2017/2018Challenge for the students at three schools in Kajiado, Kenya.
Thanks to all your hard work and fundraising efforts, the children of Kimelok, Olendoko and Olodungoro primary Schools will now have access to safe, clean water!
With your donations, we have been able to provide:
- Community and CIG organization
- Construction of 3 x 30,000 litre rainwater harvesting tanks at 3 schools COST: 4,647$ CAD per well – total 13,941$ CAD
- Construction of 24 x 10,000 litre community tanks COST: 1,800$ CAD per well – total 33,600$ CAD
- Construction of roofing and eaves required for all rainwater harvesting tanks
- WASH training to 27 CIG’s and training in water management and utilization (approximately 270 women)
- WASH training to students and staff at 3 schools
- Ongoing Monitoring and evaluation
If you would like your students, class, group or school to learn more about the Foundation or the School Challenge, please contact us about a visit for next school year, or book a Skype appearance with Ryan himself!
Thank you for your hard work and dedication to making the world a better place, and we hope to see you next year!
Thank you,
All of us here at Ryan’s Well
