Water and sanitation are not only an essential for life and health but they are also indispensable for dignity, empowerment and prosperity; – they are human rights which are fundamental to every child and adult.
In Uganda, over 22 million people are currently living without access to clean water, more than 29 million people are living without access to improved sanitation, and about 2.5 million people are still practicing open defecation.
The most seriously affected are the vulnerable people living in rural, hard to reach places.
Now to aid in the water crisis affecting the East African country, Wells of Life a member organization of Uganda Water & Sanitation Network (UWASNET) has for the last 10 years been at the forefront of transforming lives of underprivileged Ugandans through providing free Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) services.
Wells of Life’s journey started way back in February 2010, when it drilled its first well. The well was setup at Aderolongo Primary School in Otengo community, Kwania district (a former sub county cut off from Apac district).
After a modest beginning of delivering only 12 wells by 2013, drilling began to increase exponentially for their charity and by July 2020, they had drilled in excess of 550 wells thus providing access to clean water to rural communities in 15 districts of Uganda including Mubende, Mityana and Kasanda.
In 2019, Wells of Life’s achieved their biggest milestone as they funded their 500th
well, initiated their hygiene and sanitation program that reached 22,000 families across 20 villages in Mityana.
The Civil Society Organization also has an operation restoration program that deals with rehabilitating existing non functional wells . So far they have rehabilitated over 100 wells non functional wells in different parts of Uganda.
“Over the 10 years Wells of Life has extended services to rural communities in over 15 districts including Mityana, Mubende and Kasanda”
Wells of Life pilots its Health Village Program:
Adrian Laurentiu, Wells of Life Uganda Country Director says they realized that while providing clean water they were performing lifesaving and life altering services, but there was still more they could do for their friends in rural Uganda.
“…So, in 2019 we piloted our WASH program that we have since renamed our Healthy Village Program. The program requires intense education and takes nine months to one year to implement,” Mr Laurentiu asserts.
The healthy village program has so far been piloted in 20 villages and 2 schools located in Bulera and Kalangalo Sub Counties of Mityana District.
According to Wells of Life’s 2019 evaluation of the pilot healthy village program, over 78 per cent households have access to clean and safe water as opposed to the 37.82 per cent which was recorded before they started the program in Mityana.
With the program, Wells of Life has been able to substantially improve the health and quality of life of more than 20,000 people by ensuring that every household has its own latrine, thus eliminating open defecation; making them ODF Free, for which they received District certification.
Due to the healthy village program, latrine coverage rose up greatly (by 60%) in the project area. Prior to this only 31% of the households had improved sanitation facilities while the endline revealed that 91% well constructed latrines
“Wells of Life has taught 3000 households to build and use hand washing stations to prevent the spread of bacterial illnesses. We have also taught 3000 households to build drying racks for dishes thereby preventing drying dishes on dirty mats. We have as well trained more than 3000 households to construct rubbish pits to burn rubbish and maintain a clean area surrounding their homes,” Mr Laurentiu added.
Under the program, Wells of Life has drilled boreholes that serve good quality water in 15 out of the 20 villages.
Construction of wells was not successful in 5/20 pilot villages due to low ground water potential, Nevertheless sawyer Water Filters were provided to every single household in these five communities to ensure access to safe drinking water for each. As a result access to clean water improved to 93 per cent in the villages.
1,536 new latrines were constructed by communities as a result of the Healthy Village project.
Distance to the drinking water source:
Prior, basic accessibility (distance) was defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as having a water source within 0.5 kilometers from a given household, but with the emergence of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), basic accessibility is now defined as an IMPROVED drinking water source which is located on premises.
The indicator was considered for the Healthy Village Project and it has since improved in the project area with 47 per cent households reporting that they are within 500 meters distance to the improved drinking water source in comparison to the baseline of only 20 per cent.
Comparison of distances between households and drinking water sources before and after the healthy village program
Mr Mono explained that WASH practices have been done in phases; Phase one covered 20 villages and sanitation improvement on average at about 65 per cent – 68 per cent, hand washing and latrine coverage was as low as 40 per cent before Phase one, but after the 2019 assessment it showed that it had increased to 90 per cent.
This phase targeted over 60,000 people, covering at least two sub-counties of Buleera and Kalangalo; and out of the 53 villages, 20 were fully covered.
“Assessment of Wells of Life Phase one had a great impact, communities were empowered in terms of managing their sanitation. A community to become open defecation free and even sustain it means that a lot was done to change people’s mind-set, I would say that it was a major success,” he boasted.
Recently, hand washing has been greatly adopted and about 90 per cent of the households in Mityana have hand washing equipment, and also have access to proper sanitation practices. This alone is a sign that the community has been greatly empowered.
The latrine coverage has also greatly improved through frequent sensitization to change mind-set and behaviour change which has limited open defecation hence reducing diseases related to poor sanitation.
There has been a general reduction in distances between households and water sources due to improved location of and construction of wells closer to households in the communities where Wells of Life has been implementing the Healthy Village Program.
In two schools where Wells of Life intervened, the distance to the water source was greatly reduced; in one school the well is located within its premises while in another, the well is located approximately 100 meters from the school premise.
The success has not been achieved overnight; rather it has taken a great deal of time.
Denis Mono, the Senior Health Inspector of Mityana District says that with the help from Wells of Life programs, at least 90 per cent households have been practising improved sanitation and proper hygiene.
He said that Wells of Life used an approach of ‘Community Led Total Sanitation’, in which they taught communities the benefits of practicing WASH and also engaged people in these activities, thus making it easy for them to practice proper sanitation without feeling forced.
Denis Mono, the Senior Health Inspector of Mityana District
“we the Local Government have the law, but it’s pointless to push people into building latrines which they will not use in return, But Wells of Life came in and engaged the communities into sanitation practices which they adopted with ease,” Mr Mono said.
He added that working alongside Wells of Life helped them record fewer cases of sanitation-related diseases, acquire improved quality of water, increased awareness on water and sanitation in the communities, among other benefits.
Phase two is currently in the pipeline and it’s targeting over 50,000 people.
However, Mr. Mono pointed out that one of the challenges they face is poor mind-set as many people value cure more than prevention measures, not forgetting poverty which limits some people from putting up proper sanitation structures.
Joseph Luzige, the Mityana District LC5 Chairperson, said that with the increased access to clean water, they have managed to record a reduction of sanitation-related diseases such as typhoid and dysentery in the district, and believes that in no time such diseases will become history.
Mr Luzige noted that Wells of Life promised to drill over 200 boreholes in this district and so far more than 86 have been put in place, not forgetting the 100+ boreholes they have rehabilitated to improve on water access.
In addition to drilling and rehabilitating boreholes, the district chairperson noted that WOL promised to train local people on how to maintain these water sources in case of any breakages to reduce on the high maintenance expenses.
Betty Tusabe a Comprehensive nurse at Miseebe health center II where WOL rehabilitated a well
At Miseebe Health Centre ll, one of the beneficiaries of Wells of Life’s rehabilitated boreholes, people used to depend on unclean swamp water because the nearby borehole was about 8km from their community, according to Betty Tusabe, a Comprehensive nurse at the health centre.
Ms. Tusabe noted that aside from rehabilitating their broken borehole which serves about three parishes, Wells of Life has provided soap among other sanitation material to improve people’s hygiene and sanitation.
Edith Namayanja, the Chairperson of Miseebe village, also added that they established a system where every family was supposed to pay at least Shs.2000 for borehole maintenance but a few comply.
Joseph Muwanga, the assistant District Health Officer of Mityana said he mainly looks at four aspects when it comes to water and they include; quality, coverage, cost and sustainability and he commended Wells of Life for helping them achieve their targets.
“My people cannot thank Wells of Life enough. The organization has really changed our lives. I have also learnt that they use stainless steel pipes which are safer and longer lasting than the galvanized iron pipes which were known to rust thus spoiling the quality of water,” Mr Muwanga disclosed.
Wells of Life has provided soap among other sanitation material to improve people’s hygiene and sanitation
He also said that they have community-based committees that run the boreholes after they are drilled or rehabilitated by WOL and these committees collect some amount of money amongst the borehole users, which in turn is used in case of any breakages.
Mr Muwanga however, requested Wells of Life and other NGOs to come on board and help communities with income-generating skills too, because without income generating activities, it is not easy for some people to contribute towards maintaining the water sources or maintain proper sanitation.
She says that some people fail to pay not because they don’t want to, but because they can’t even afford a daily meal in their homes, This sometimes causes conflicts between people who pay and those who can’t afford to contribute.
Ms Namayanja noted that their borehole which was rehabilitated by Wells of Life in 2019 serves more than 50 families in that village, Before Wells of Life’s intervention, people used to walk for at least two miles to locate a nearby borehole.
10 years after construction of the first well drilled in Aderolongo Primary School in Otengo community, Kwania district, in February 2020 Wells of Life rehabilitated the well under its Operation Restoration Program. The well had developed problems with its parts by and was producing low yields by the time it was rehabilitated.
A map of showing new borehores, operation restoration and Heathy Village Project Implemented by Wells of Life
Wells of Life spearheads Covid-19 fight with WASH facilities
On the right, Adrian hands over soap to Mityana RDC as part of their response Covid-19.
Since the confirmation of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020, a number of non-state-actors including Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) are contributing to the national efforts to curb the spread of the virus.
As of 3rd October, Uganda had 8,662 cumulative confirmed cases of the corona virus with 79 registered deaths.
Wells of Life is one of the CSOs that have contributed highly in curbing the spread of Covid-19 in the country.
As part of response to the pandemic, Wells of Life donated 740 cartons of bar soap and 240 face shields.
The relief items were donated to Ministry of Health, Mubende Regional Referral Hospital, Mityana District General Hospital, lower level health centers IV, IIIs and II in Mityana and the Catholic Parish in Bukuya Sub-County, Kasanda District
Since hand washing with soap is one of the vital health guidelines in the fight against Covid-19, Wells of Life also received approval from the Resident District Commissioner (RDC) of Mityana Mr. Isa Ntumwa to continue with the rehabilitation of broken boreholes in Mityana district as a way of intensifying access to safe water.
Adrian country director “center” with hat hands over face shields to the medical team of Mityana hospital
“It is of high importance that during this period, rural communities have access to safe water and be provided with the minimum tools such as soap to help them maintain good hygiene. Our small intervention in helping the government and the communities of rural Uganda in their quest to stay healthy and protect themselves in front of this pandemic,” said Mr Laurentiu.
“It is a small donation that Wells of Life made to the Government and people of Uganda but as we always say, every drop matters and every life counts in our quest of elevating the life standard of rural communities of Uganda,” he added.
Why rural Uganda?
Mr. Laurentiu says they chose to work in rural areas because at least 90 per cent of Ugandans living in these communities lack access to safe and clean water, and this increases water borne diseases and infant mortality rates.
