Work has begun on the Nashikhaso-Khamoto Community Water Project in Mbale Uganda. Thank you to Stillwater Sunrise Rotary Club, Rotary District 5960, and the Rotary Club of Mbale for your grant support with this project. Please Follow along on the project through photos - Click Here
As you have heard, we have been the primary club engaged in a water project in Uganda. A village there has water in their rice paddys to draw out of or must carry potable water from over 2 Kilometers away. We have tapped a mountain stream and buried a pipeline that will carry fresh, potable water directly to their village which is about 9.2 Kilometers away from the source. The Government of Uganda has made available the piping to do this and our club in concert with David Mabonga and the Rotary Club of Mbale is paying for the labor to get the pipes buried and backfilled after the pipes are laid. David has contacted all the landowners along the path and gotten their permission to use their land for this project. Note that the tools include hoes, pickaxes, shovels and one machine used to connect the sections of piping together. There have been up to 41 workers on the project working 10-hour days! We have also provided food and water to them while they are working. At times the ground was so hard they needed to pour water on it to soften it so they could dig deep enough to make this project work. As of now, they are about 1/2 way to the destination and hope to finish in the next week or two, depending on the hardness of the ground.
Background:
Nashikhaso-Khamoto Community is among various communities of lower Bungokho Sub County found in central District of Mbale in Eastern Uganda. It is a densely populated area with Income derived mainly from growing rice with support of swampy water. It is also with dismay that most of home use water is the same water that runs through the rice paddies. The government intervention of boreholes drilling is not only scattered but the soil and water table have no capacity to maintain the supply water through the boreholes.
Most of the water fetchers are women and young children who waste a lot of time waiting for water to gather in the boreholes in order to be pumped. This kind of waiting can last 2 hours or maybe more. This lack of water has often led to domestic violence, child abuse, and been at least partially responsible for the spread of diseases like typhoid, dysentery and bilharzia.
On daily basis, cattle are seen drinking from some of the sources that the residents do fetch from for Home use.
Through Young Men’s Christian Association, (YMCA), Mbale Branch, Rotary Club of Mbale and National Water and Sewerage Corporation, (NWSC), Mbale Region, we are seeking partners in helping with a water project to eliminate this water problem. We know that there is good potable water only about 9.2 Km away near Mbale. This water is at an elevation such that it could freely flow to Lower Bungokho. We would like to extend piping from this source to where the water is needed, a stretch measuring 9.2Km.
YMCA Mbale Branch is located adjacent to Bungokho Sub County Headquarters and strives to work with communities and other stakeholder organizations in promoting change of attitudes in society in health, water and sanitation, education (both formal and vocational skills training) and environment.
We have previously worked successfully with NWSC Mbale Region, Mbale Rotary Club and Roseville Rotary Club of USA in extending 1.6KM of water piping to communities of Mafutu-Namunyu in Bumbobi Sub County in Mbale District and Central Bungokho.
Projection:
This Community Project is quit viable as the water supplied by NWSC is safe and clean for Human consumption and use. Among the over 10000 Households in Bungokho and with growing Population now at 34,531, this project is expected to directly benefit 200 Households (an average of 7 people per Household) in the first year of implementation as water taps will be connected to their Homesteads as NWSC customers. It is expected to serve 500 Households through established two NWSC public standpipes strategically placed along the 9.2KM service main.
This project is not only anticipated to provide safe and clean water but also to support the measures against Covid19.