Drawing Water

                                            

On Sept 9th the friends and families of Greeham Road raised a fantastic £2,754.46 in cash through sponsorship for the beautiful chalk drawings which covered our pavements.There was also great food, toys and books, an auction of promises and lots of fun and games. A further £3,095 has been raised in cheques. This was wonderful news as we've now more than beaten our target so a big thank you to all those involved.

I have recently had an update from WaterAid on how the project we are funding in Wakiso is progressing to build 26 water sources to provide clean water for 400 people, 20 ecosan toilets and pay for 500 people to receive education and training on safe hygiene.

 

 

 In the last few months the planning and consultation stage has been completed and the available water sources assessed. The communities have been sourcing materials locally for the build and have been receiving training in building the water towers and wells. The construction is now about half way through. In January the education programme will start and 20 managment committees will be set up to sustain the project and training will be given to mentain the new water sources.

Maureen is 11 years old. Her community will receive a rain water harvesting tank and a well.

"I come here with my brothers and sisters to collect water from here three times a day, in the morning before school. School starts at 7am so I need to come to the source at 5am or 6am to finish in time. It takes five minutes to get here if you run but it takes longer to walk back up the hill with the jerry can as it is very heavy. I am in primary Three at school. My father is a shop assistant in Kampala.

We use the water to give to the cows, wash clothes. cook with and drink. We boil the water before drinking it. Sometimes I get stomach ache and bleed at the rear. Once we had to go to the hospital. The doctor listened to the disease I described and gave me medicine. I got better. I didn't die!

This is the only water source we have nearby; we would like to have a pump: I have seen one before but I have never used one."

 

 

 

We owe lots of thank you’s to some wonderful people who helped to make Drawing Water on Saturday 9^th Sept such a success. So in no particular order…. Thank you to:

Lynne Featherstone, Perry Fenwick, Early Learning Centre (Brent Cross), A Taste of Nawab, Exotic Café, The Meze Bar, Raj Villa, Martin (in Goal!), John (in the well!) and Gary (for Smacking the Rat!) Ben, Spencer & Red Watch from Hornsey Fire Station, Martin (our splendid auctioneer), Emily, Samantha and Isla who did a fantastic job face painting, Ellie and her band for the music, Ester and Gemma for talking to us about Wakiso. Ben, who has painted us a commemorative plaque outside No 60 (do take a look). Lastly the Greenham gang who put it all together, Deborah, Valerie, Jane, Gabi, Linda, Janakh, Tilly, Eve, Alison and Lynne and our men folk who fetched and carried and made helpful suggestions from the side lines! Plus the fantastic generosity of all the neighbours who chipped in with cooking and balloon blowing.

 

There is more information on the people of Wakiso in Uganda at the bottom of this page, as well as an interview with a villager on what it is like to live without clean water and proper sanitation.

                                      
If you wish to make a donation now then please do so through this site.

Information on Wakiso

- District population of 267,364 people

- 95% of the population is rural based

- 55% of this population is female

- 80% of the district economy is agro-based.

Wakiso is a rural area located in Central Uganda where most villagers get their drinking water from polluted streams, unprotected natural springs and traditional wells. The situation is made worse by the general lack of sanitation facilities

and availability of basic information on good hygiene practices. Not surprisingly,

water and sanitation related diseases such as diarrhoea, intestinal parasites

and skin and eye infections place a heavy health burden on local villagers.

Interview with Sarah Nanyonjo of the Kampal Region,

Uganda on what it is like to live with poor water and

sanitation.

Sarah, how far do you walk each day to get water? It's a bit far

How long does it take you? About 45 minutes there and back. I do this four or five

times a day.

Is the water clean? It's not satisfactory. 

What do you have to do to make it clean? I must boil it for 30 minutes before I

can use it. 

Have any of your children had water related diseases?  Yes - fever,

stomach ache and diarrhoea and itchy skin.

Do you know of any children who have died because of dirty water? Not

died no, but they are always sick. Children fall in the water all the time. They become afraid

to go back for water.

Do you have your own latrine? Yes had it for about two years no. We fill one and

move on to another one.

What was life like with no latrine? Oh, we used to have vomiting and diarrhoea.

We were always sick because we were using the bush.

Was that embarrassing? Yes - If felt bad. You just leave your stuff there for everyone

to see and it's not clean.

What has changed since having the latrine? We don't fall sick as much and it's

safer.

When your children fall ill how much do you pay for treatment? I pay

15,000 Ush (£1 = 3,000 Ush) per prescription.

And how much do you earn per month from the garden? When the yield is

good (which means low prices) I make 10,000 a month when it's bad just 3,000 per month.

Do the children often go ill without treatment? Yes if we can't afford it. So it

would be very good if I could earn more cash.

Are you hopeful about the future? Not really. I'm uncertain. I had a sewing machine

which first broke down and was then stolen. If I get something else to make money I would

be very happy to do it to earn a living. But there is nothing.

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS EMAIL:  sarah@princestone.com