This project has been completed under the direction of Peace Corps Volunteer Maxx Mann.
To read about the beginning of the project, CLICK HERE.
The project was to build a rainwater catchment system to provide water for all of the needs of the school.
Maxx reports:
Scope
This project was geared toward educating lower primary school students about the importance of washing their hands before every meal and after every time they visited the choo (latrine). Some secondary benefits were:A) the school could use the rain water to finish building the school Kitchen, and
B) the water caught there could be filtered and boiled to cook school lunches so the school doesn’t have to buy water from the delivery boys who get it from the river.
Immediately after installation, we held a workshop with all of the students and teachers, outlining the importance and methodology of washing one’s hands. The two main ideas to take away were written on the tank with white paint, alongside the names of all of the donors for the project.
The work that was done
After purchase of the tank and the aluminum gutters in Narok, I transported said materials back to Sekenani (at the slightly inflated cost of 800 shillings). The construction of a nearby church was the focus of the chosen carpenters for about two weeks, and finally they got tired of me hounding them to finish this small project and got started.Two fundis (carpenters) were given the 4,000 shillings to get the lumber from the local trade outpost, and they had enough left over to also purchase a bag of cement. Four posts were cemented a foot and a half underground and a stand was built on them with the remaining 2×4’s.
The gutters, costing only 1,000 shillings each, were installed unsatisfactorily at the start and had to be taken down and reinstalled. (The gradient of the slope of the gutters was not in favor of gravity putting water in the tank efficiently.)
After 4,500 for the tank, 2,000 for the gutters, and 4,000 for the wood, the remaining 4,000 shillings from the budget was spent on nails, paint, a paint brush, and the half the labor of the job.
After a heavy rain that came directly after the lumber was purchased, one of the boards warped and had to be replaced at the expense of the school’s PTA. Other contributions from the school included half the labor for the job, transport of materials, and the maintenance and upkeep for the whole thing.
Comments from the community
“We are so blessed that people on the other side of the world care enough to help educate our children”“We gives thanks to God for this support from our friends and family in America”
“The parents on the board were faced with a big problem with finishing this kitchen [there were no funds to supply the kitchen with water], we were able to put our heads together and solve that problem”
We are grateful to Maxx for completing this important project, and again extend our thanks to his friends and family for providing the funding.