Wells for Schools: Kenya

Access to clean water

Dramatically improves health, keeping students in class
Eliminates time wasted fetching dirty water
Enables proper sanitation, particulary important for girls
Improves facilities through construction as concrete requires lots of water
Removes undue financial burdens on schools who often buy water for basic needs

Wells for Schools: Project Details

In cooperation with a number of partners, we're working with you to begin building deep wells at primary and secondary (K-12) schools throughout Kenya.

We have identified five initial fresh-water well sites and are working with our partners to raise over $150,000 to complete these and other projects.

Each well will directly benefit an average of 400 students and surrounding communities of over 2,500. That's less than $10 per person to supply water for more than 10 years!

You can help by making a donation today. As funds are made available, we will begin digging. These children could have water by Christmas.

The Schools:

ABC Girls Secondary School: Machakos Town (Mah-cha-kos)

ABC Girls Secondary School Well Project This well will provide clean water for 220 high school age girls and the faculty of this school. This school is located at ABC's Headquarters and so it has the additional benefit of serving a church community of nearly 800, a community development center and a surrounding town of over 6,000. Water here is currently unreliable and unsafe for drinking without boiling. But even this unclean water is costing the facility over $3,000USD each year. When this well is complete, this unnecessary expense will be re-invested in other ABC school water projects - bringing water to many more students!

Kitheuni Primary and Secondary Schools: Kitheuini (kith-they-oo-ni)

Kitheuni Secondary School Well Project The primary school serves over 500 students and the secondary school houses over 250. The surrounding community of 250 households will also benefit from this deep borehole (well). Currently water is being fetched from a polluted stream and it is strictly rationed. The school has so little water that it cannot complete housing for its faculty or repair a collapsed latrine for the girls. With water, this very important school can get back on track.

Ilelambyu Schools: Nzatani (i-la-lam-bee-oo)

Ilelambyu Secondary School Well Project This water well will be capable of providing clean water to two primary schools and a new secondary school (pictured). The two primary schools each serve over 370 students and the secondary school will eventually be home to more than 200. 1,500 community members will be directly impacted by this well project and more may benefit from a potential piping system to be added later.

Kalyambeu Polytechnic (ka-li-am-beh-oo)

Kalyambeu Polytechnic Well Project The community at Kalyambeu is a model of good development. Just two years ago, this now bustling village was nothing but an open field. The community is mobilized and have constructed numerous buildings and even a water tank for rain catchment. They have recently completed a polytechic school that will house and train students in carpentry, tailoring, and other lucrative skills. Still, the location has no access to clean water, and the tank only provides limited supply that must be strictly rationed. This water well will serve the students of the polytechnic and the community, whose surrounding population is nearly 6,000. The site also houses a medical clinic and is the future site of a hoped for theological college.

Kwa Kaluu Primary and Secondary schools: Vyulya (vee-oo-lia)

Serving 350 primary and 450 secondary students, this water well will have a dramtic impact in a community that understands how to grow itself out of poverty. The surrounding community of nearly 2,500 will continue, at a much greater pace, on its road to sustainable developement. The water from this well will improve services at the nearby medical clinic and will help eliminate the use of dirty water for drinking. When students can get back to focusing on class instead of gathering dirty water that only makes them sick, the future becomes full of hope.

Are wells expensive?

It's a great question that we get asked a lot. Individual well projects in Kenya generally seem more expensive at first glance for a number of reasons. The biggest is the geography. These wells are deep and the machines to dig them are big and expensive to operate. The roads to reach the villages are horrible. It takes hours to go a few miles - and that's in a nimble pickup. So when you dig a well, you make the investment to do it right the first time.

These wells are worth every penny. They are very high capacity wells that produce enough water for thousands. Hand pumped wells and other smaller systems are cheaper, but they also serve smaller groups. These wells are electrically powered, often by diesel generators, and they store water in large tanks. This ensures the best, most effiecient use of the well. Even seasoned development workers have been amazed by the amount of water these wells provide. It's no small impact in a community. These wells change everything!

In the end, when you compare cost to provide water per person, these wells end up being very comparable with other water projects.

Getting Involved

Support the Projects. Make a donation today and we'll use 100% of it to dig these wells!
Tell Others. Join our "HTML for H20" campaign and link to this project from where ever you can!
Start a Group Water Challenge. If you help tell the story and get someone else to give, we'll keep track and you could be our Mr. or Ms. Kiwu of the month. (Kiwu is Kikambo for "water")

Donate to clean water projects in Africa

The Water Project, Inc. is a public charity under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
Donations are tax deductible to the extent permitted by law.