plan 521Family Spirit AIDS Orphanage MASINDI UGANDA school borehole and farm irrigation

Summary

Family Spirit AIDS Orphanage in Masindi, Uganda is in need of a shallow borehole at the school/clinic/boarding center to provide safe drinking water for students and staff and a well with a gravity fed irrigation system for the 15 acre farm on separate lo

Background

In 2012, DLDT's executive director met a couple who run theHummingbird Project which works on sustainable farming projects in India and east Africa. They asked if we could visit Family Spirit and see how we could help with their water situation since that was not their area of work, but they knew they needed help. In 2012, after drilling a borehole in Uganda in Mulajji Village a few hours away, DLDT went to research the situation at Family Spirit and then meet with the school/center community to discuss best options for safe and sustainable water for center and the 15 acre farm. During that same time, DLDT taught hygiene and sanitation classes at the school.

At Family Spirit AIDS Center (orphanage, school, youth clinic), students are forced to walk to a public spring that is very unsanitary about 15 minutes away. The spring is typically crowded, surrounded with trash, farm animals, motor vehicles and people right near a dirt road which contributes pollution via runoff. The center has two cisterns that are old and contaminated with bacteria and worms and any water collected on site is not treated properly with tablets that need to be purchased because the containers can never fill to the proper levels while serving the center. One small tap exists on site from the district, but the school cannot turn on the tap because of the lack of funds to pay and the lack of reliable or affordable electricity in the district and country.

*Videos of the children and center directors can be seen on our Youtube channel and photos can be seen on Flickr.

Location

Masindi, Masindi, Uganda, Uganda

Attachments

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  • 2 participants | show more

    Funding for projects

    Don Howard of Rotary District 5450

    I also applaud your work in caring for orphans. I work with many schools in Kenya and the challenges of caring for the needs of orphans are many and not easily resolved. One of the paths we are following is creating sustainable sources of income for schools and their communities. Most of our income generating projects such as tree farming ...

    I also applaud your work in caring for orphans. I work with many schools in Kenya and the challenges of caring for the needs of orphans are many and not easily resolved. One of the paths we are following is creating sustainable sources of income for schools and their communities. Most of our income generating projects such as tree farming are done on school property. In your case you have a fifteen acre farm. Could you explain how the farm is going to benefit the school. Who owns it, how far is it from the school, is there a written commitment relating to how the school will profit. Could you also explain how you intend to cover the cost of providing maintenance and fuel for the generator and transportation of students to the farm. Your comment about not being able to afford to pay to turn on the tap or use electricity provided by the district indicate a cash flow problem. Is the farm the solution?

    • Erin Huber of Drink Local. Drink Tap.

      Hi Don, Thank you for the good work you are doing in the world! The farm will bring a sustainable food stream to FS; They will save money by not purchasing as much food from "town"; This money can be used to use the generator for the irrigation and help bus the kids to the farm to learn, work, play; The directors have the title in the...

      Hi Don,
      Thank you for the good work you are doing in the world!
      The farm will bring a sustainable food stream to FS;
      They will save money by not purchasing as much food from "town";
      This money can be used to use the generator for the irrigation and help bus the kids to the farm to learn, work, play;
      The directors have the title in their name for the land and it is being transferred to FS's name;
      The farm is a "25 minute" drive not far from the school.
      We do not see the farm as an entire solution to their problems, we see it as a step to a more sustainable life for all at FS. Just like they made the step in getting the farm to bring food to the school, we can help make the next step with them so the farm can produce more food. We do not have the financial statements for the school, so we cannot assume the expensive single district tap with little to no electricity bringing water to it is an answer to their water problem or that affordability is the main concern- reliability is most likely the main issue here because of corrupt, unreliable power in Uganda's rural areas.
      Thank you for your thoughtful questions! I'd love to learn more about your work and sustainability models and working programs. Please send information when you can. Are you stationed in Kenya? I may be in Mombasa during my trip for a few days Dec-Feb and would love to connect.
      Take care,Erin

  • 2 participants | show more

    community contribution

    Gemma Bulos of Global Women's Water Initiative

    Hi there I reiterate the questions regarding ongoing maintenance and funding. I notice there is no community contribution. Will there be any labor or material contribution for the project? Is it because they don't have the capacity, or is not part of the model? Thanks and good luck. gemma

    Hi there

    I reiterate the questions regarding ongoing maintenance and funding. I notice there is no community contribution. Will there be any labor or material contribution for the project? Is it because they don't have the capacity, or is not part of the model?

    Thanks and good luck.
    gemma

    • Erin Huber of Drink Local. Drink Tap.

      Hi Gemma, I hope you are well! There is community contribution of the ongoing maintenance and water committee continuous education. FS staff and children will help clear areas as needed (labor) and provide shelter/camp/food for workers. Are you in Uganda Gemma? I'd love to connect while I am there. Let me know-thanks! ~Erin

      Hi Gemma, I hope you are well!
      There is community contribution of the ongoing maintenance and water committee continuous education. FS staff and children will help clear areas as needed (labor) and provide shelter/camp/food for workers.
      Are you in Uganda Gemma? I'd love to connect while I am there. Let me know-thanks!

      ~Erin

  • 2 participants | show more

    Generator/Fuel costs and training

    Christine Roy of International Lifeline Fund

    Thank you for your overview of your project and the various organizations involved. In your description you mentioned that the school will require a generator when refilling the tanks. How often will that be? Does the school already have a generator? Are they willing to absorb the cost of the fuel when that needs to be done, given all of t...

    Thank you for your overview of your project and the various organizations involved. In your description you mentioned that the school will require a generator when refilling the tanks. How often will that be? Does the school already have a generator? Are they willing to absorb the cost of the fuel when that needs to be done, given all of their priorities? Also, in your summary you mentioned that you provided hygiene and sanitation classes in 2012, are you planning to provide additional classes after completing the project? Who will be trained?

    • Erin Huber of Drink Local. Drink Tap.

      Hi Christine, Thank you for being patient with my response as we had some unexpected events recently to take care of (not project related). The generator use depend on the rain and time of year. There are two rainy seasons, so it will not be used then, it will be used more in the off rainy seasons 1x per week to 1x per month on average. We...

      Hi Christine, Thank you for being patient with my response as we had some unexpected events recently to take care of (not project related). The generator use depend on the rain and time of year. There are two rainy seasons, so it will not be used then, it will be used more in the off rainy seasons 1x per week to 1x per month on average. We shaved some cost by using smaller containers to store the irrigation water since the school can access a generator when needed.The cost will be covered from savings in purchasing processed grains and food in "town" and is minimal.
      We will leave materials with the school and will visit once a year to followup on training and the projects. A water committee will be trained to continue teaching the users on a monthly basis.
      Enjoy your day and thank you for your conversation!
      Erin

  • 3 participants | show more

    Government Interaction

    Iskaka Msigwa of Tanzania Mission to the Poor and Disabled (PADI)

    I need clarification of some issues on interacting with the government. I know the government is the owner of the community you re serving. How can you work/implementi the project without involving the government? How are you going to maintain the sastainability of the project. The organization may not continue for rever serving the commu...

    I need clarification of some issues on interacting with the government.
    I know the government is the owner of the community you re serving. How can you work/implementi the project without involving the government? How are you going to maintain the sastainability of the project. The organization may not continue for rever serving the community but the government is their forever. I think it may be in one way or another the need of involving the government is needed.
    Regards
    Msigwa

    • Julie Smith of Lifewater International

      I applaud the work of the orphanage to care for children in need and I truly hope you are able to gain access to safe water. 1. The various roles of the organizations is unclear- which organization will be managing the grant and which organization will be responsible for maintenance of the borehole long-term? If these roles differ, how ...

      I applaud the work of the orphanage to care for children in need and I truly hope you are able to gain access to safe water.

      1. The various roles of the organizations is unclear- which organization will be managing the grant and which organization will be responsible for maintenance of the borehole long-term? If these roles differ, how will the maintenance of the hand pump be ensured?
      2. Have you done any research regarding cleaning the cisterns? I understand that they are old and contaminated, but it could be more cost-effective to use the cisterns you already have rather than drill a new borehole. Lifewater International has put together a manual with instructions on how to clean and maintain cisterns, if you are interested.

    • Erin Huber of Drink Local. Drink Tap.

      Hello everyone and thank you for your questions, We work with a hired contractor on the ground who is on a District Water Committee and a supervisor to our funded projects on the ground; he handles the government relations. I am waiting for specific answers from him. Drink Local. Drink Tap. will manage all funds for the project and phy...

      Hello everyone and thank you for your questions,
      We work with a hired contractor on the ground who is on a District Water Committee and a supervisor to our funded projects on the ground; he handles the government relations. I am waiting for specific answers from him.

      Drink Local. Drink Tap. will manage all funds for the project and physically be on the ground during project implementation and water committee training. The Family Spirit Centre and water committee will manage the borehole project and farm irrigation long-term and take ownership of the new source and system. Their contribution is maintenance and the generator to bring water to the gravity fed irrigation system as needed which includes fuel as well. Money saved from growing more food and purchasing less will help offset this cost as well as the cost to get groups of kids their by bus regularly to learn farming skills.

      Cleaning the cisterns was a question I had on the ground with FS in 2012, so thank you for asking about that. It may be cost effective, but not in the long term and it did not seem like a practical solution for them. The cisterns could potentially be cleaned and I'd love to see that manual. But, from the discussions I had with the community, there is not enough rain to bring what they need and/or the treatment "chemicals" are difficult to afford/treat when the cistern is not at least almost full. I am inquiring again with FS about this, but spent one week assessing their needs and practical, sustainable solutions to their water problems for over 200 orphaned and sick children. If you have the link for that manual, I'd love to look at it to see if it's different than what I have seen-thanks! I also have this as reference too: http://www.lifewater.org/resources/tech_library/Rws5%20Water%20Storage.pdf

      These questions and comments have been very helpful and have echoed some things that were on my mind from the start. I will share more details as I get more specific answers from our contractor.

      Best, Erin

    • Erin Huber of Drink Local. Drink Tap.

      More specifically on government and our contractor: He is one of the directors of Waterford Contractors and Consultants Limited and he is on the Water Board Management Committee of Luwero town council-basically their role is to over see the running of Water and manage the states in Luwero town council. Bore hole construction and governme...

      More specifically on government and our contractor:
      He is one of the directors of Waterford Contractors and Consultants Limited and he is on the Water Board Management Committee of Luwero town council-basically their role is to over see the running of Water and manage the states in Luwero town council.
      Bore hole construction and government: Government interaction is not big another than giving us permission to construct it- after that the responsibility is on the owner.
      it's future not again the goverment

    • Erin Huber of Drink Local. Drink Tap.

      Julie, I have started to dive more deeply into the option of cleaning the existing cisterns and educating the staff and water committee (which was never done properly). Since we may not be able to raise all the funds we need in time for the break in raining seasons, we may go that route as an alternative depending on the severity of the co...

      Julie, I have started to dive more deeply into the option of cleaning the existing cisterns and educating the staff and water committee (which was never done properly). Since we may not be able to raise all the funds we need in time for the break in raining seasons, we may go that route as an alternative depending on the severity of the contamination. The rainfall may be good enough after talking for a third time with our contractor there- I will update the project asap if needed. I'll loo forward to that information you have on cleaning the cisterns to see if it would make sense for the problem they have. Thanks!