Buwanzu community sustains 52kids established water project

Kids pump water from the 52 Kids well.

A 70 foot protected hand dug well, with a manual pump was successfully constructed in December 2008, through a partnership between the 52 kids foundation, and Buwanzu community.

Buwanzu village is located in Nabwigulu subcounty, Kamuli district Uganda. It is a community with a population of atleast 700 people.

It is one of the villages in which the 52 kids live .

The open well where the Buwanzu community previously collected water.

Cattle graze in the vicinity of the open well.

Prior to December 2008, the community's only source of domestic water was an open well. The well was shared by both humans and domestic animals like cattle and goats.

"We now get our domestic water from the "bore hole", we have left the open well to cattle and goats" explains Mr Tenywa, a 35 year old community resident who donated the land on which the well was constructed and current community elected well supervisor. " Gone are the days when one had to spend up to 3 hours to collect a 20 litre jerrycan of safe drinking water,life was tough,our children suffered bad skins and diarrhoea disease from bathing and drinking dirty water from the open well, they did not understand the effect of drinking dirty water," further explains Mr Tenywa.

Left: Mr. Tenywa, the borehole supervisor. Right: A girl happily carries away a 20 liter "jerrycan" of water from the borehole.

Mama Salaama, one of the 52kids guardians and community resident explains that she currently worries less about water and dedicates a lot of her time on other activities like garden work.

"I open the 'borehole' in the morning, lock it at mid day and later open it in the evening.This allows enough time for every family to collect enough water to use. We lock up the well in the night because no body can watch over it in the night," explains Mr Tenywa when asked why a padlock had been placed on a chain next to the pump handle.

The community has put in place a pool fund into which each family will contribute a basic monthly fee. We want that money to accumulate so that in case of any repairs, and maintenance, we can pay for the costs as a community.