Water Blogged

Idodi Primary School is located in Idodi Village, Tanzania. The school has a population of 953 students (446 girls and 507 boys) and 13 teachers/staff members. Access to safe water is the major problem the school faces on a daily basis.

BEFORE:
Students were forced to fetch water from a seasonal dam which is 1 km away from the school or from the village well which is 2 km’s away. More often than not, they used the dam which is polluted and not safe. This unsafe water caused many illnesses and endangered the health and well-being of the students and staff members of the school. The students also wasted a lot of time fetching water, rather than concentrating on their studies. This had a very negative impact on the education of the students and many ended up dropping out of school completely.

AFTER:
The overall objective of this project was to provide access to clean water for the students at Idodi Primary School. Our implementing partner, St. Paul Partners (SSP), successfully installed a borehole well on the school grounds! This will ensure students have access to enough safe water which will lead to more time in the classroom studying. Plentiful safe water will also have a significant impact on the health of the students, teachers and neighbors around the village.

SSP representatives traveled to Idodi Primary School and worked with the school administration to identify a suitable location for a borehole well that would have a hand pump. This 30M deep well was drilled, flushed, and tested to the standards of St. Paul Partners. The project included the furnishing of all materials, labor and supervision required during drilling. To ensure the sustainability of the project, WASH training was conducted at the Idodi Primary School. Students and staff were trained on how to use the hand pump and to ensure its sustainability. This training aimed to strengthen the school’s and village’s sense of ownership towards the project. The school leaders promise to take good care of the well for many years to come.

Thank you to First Avenue Middle School in California for making this possible!