St. Andrew’s Matale Secondary School Water Harvesting Project
Matale, Uganda
This project at St. Andrew’s Secondary School will collect rainwater from the roofs of four campus buildings (science lab, classrooms, administrative block, and girls dormitory) to provide 400-1000 students and staff with clean, filtered water for consumption, washing, laboratory, and sanitation. The water will be collected in a 300,000 liter central underground catchment tank and two raised feed tanks of 10,000 liters each. The mission of this project is threefold.
Improve safety, academic equality, and educational opportunities
Improve health conditions with purified water for consumption, washing and sanitation.
Improve education about good hygiene and sanitation practices.
Why it Matters
Saftey & Academics
The school is currently buying water from locally licensed, gazetted boreholes and supplementing by collecting water from an unclean stream 2.5 miles from school. Students (primarily girls) are missing school and encountering gender-biased-violence while collecting unsafe water. This project will eliminate the need to collect water off-campus, improving student safety and empower girls to focus on their studies and better compete with the boys.
Twelve students/year will be directed towards a career in engineering or water maintenance via training in the new water system. 20% of trained students will be guided to further their studies through vocational training or university.
Access to a more reliable, safe water supply will allow the school to expand from 400 to 1000 students one year from project completion giving more students the opportunity to reach their full potential and achieve their dreams.
Health, Hygiene, & Sanitation
A substantial WASH program is already in place at the school, educating students and the community about the health benefits of washing hands and using good sanitation. It is part of the classroom curriculum and is taught by senior teachers and school health clubs, with the support from government health inspectors. Exhibitions are made during public parades where fun and informative demonstrations on how to wash hands with soap are done. The WASH program will be greatly enhanced by the presence of this water supply.
*MADDO will train school committees on water management, hygience and sanitation through their locally established water and sanitation programme. Their experienced staff provides water sources and hygiene and sanitation good practices to schools and communities.
Improving community hygiene knowledge, behaviors, and practices help prevent the spread of disease.
The project will promote universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water.
Project Status
Thanks to our generous *partners and donors, this $33,000 project is fully funded and work is nearly complete as of April 2022.
Installation is expected to be completed by May 2022. The last step to complete the project is to install a hybrid solar/electric pump. A temporary pump has been installed until the hybrid pump arrives.
A Grand Ribbon Cutting to celebrate water flow is in the planning. The evening will involve hand washing demos and drinking fountains.
INSTALLATION
Last fall, together with our *partners and donors we raised an initial $11,000 for this project.
Many thanks to *Portland Metro Rotary Club, who played an essential role in winning a $22,000 grant from Rotary International that matched our $11,000 2-to-1.
*Rotary Club of Kalisizo, will oversee the project and will co-fund the water filtering system for drinking water together with *St. Andrew’s Secondary School PTA. They have also both agreed to fund some additional unforeseen costs if need be, with any unused contingency funds going towards the school.
Many Matale community members will be employed by the engineers as laborers and security for the project.
Annual Funds & Maintenance
*St. Andrew’s Secondary School PTA has committed to funding operation and maintenance of the water supply system, future filter system supplies, and maintenance requirements because it is essential that parents are involved in and understand the importance of their children having safe water.
*Rotary Club of Kalisizo will oversee ongoing maintenance. They and the community have also committed to additional fundraising events and donor contributions from parents and Rotary members and clubs to assist the PTA with annual funds for supplies and maintenance.
*In Partnership With
Platinum Partner: Portland Metro Rotary Club
Supporting Partners through Portland Metro Rotary Club: Tigard Rotary (noon), White Salmon-Bingen Rotary, Beaverton Rotary, SE Portland Rotary, West Linn Rotary, Central Chester County PA, and Soroptimists Intl. Portland.
Other Local Partners: Tigard Community Friends Church
Kenyan Partners: St. Andrew’s Secondary School, Rotary Club of Kalisizo and Masaka Diocesan Development Organization (MADDO)
Many thanks to all the other donors and supporters of this project.