Conclusion of Mawingu Maternity Ward Rainwater Catchment Project – Kenya

This project has been completed under the direction of Peace Corps Volunteer Shailah Bevan.

To read about the beginning of the project, CLICK HERE.

The project was to build a rainwater catchment system to provide water for the Mawingu Maternity Ward.

Shailah reports:

My counterpart and I traveled to the nearest town called Olkalou and purchased the materials for the maternity ward, and then transported them back to Mawingu in a very large truck.

Because of the importance of this project the community contributed funds toward the water tank and because of water charity’s generous contributions we were able to purchase a 10,000 L water tank.

We were also able to purchase an additional smaller 1,000 water tank which will be utilized as a handwashing station because there is no back-up water supply or plumbing for when the dry season comes.

We also ordered and purchased 20 hand-made steel gutters that will ensure that every drop of water is stored in the maternity ward tank. There was also a purchase of 10 bags of cement and 20 ballast stones to build a 3-layer base and an additional smaller base for the 1,000 L tank.

The eager community members attached the 20 high-quality gutters to the maternity ward roof. They also built the cement bases sturdy and flat to ensure optimum satisfaction and long-term use.

The community and staff are exceedingly thankful to Water Charity for enabling them to have access to clean water. A celebration is scheduled to show how appreciative they are of this new addition to the community. Thank you so much Water Charity.

We, in turn, extend our thanks to Shailah for completing this excellent project, her 4th in partnership with Water Charity. We are grateful to the Paul Bechtner Foundation for providing the funding.