Nyamanga Dispensary Rainwater Harvesting Project – Kenya

Location
Nyamanga Village, Karungu Division, Nyatike District, Nyanza Province, Kenya

Community Description
Nyamanga is a small village nestled along the shores of Lake Victoria, 6 km from the area market town of Sori, lying within the larger region of Karungu Division, Kenya. Although quite scenic due to the lake and the surrounding hills, it is also quite isolated. A two hour drive along a very rough road leads to the nearest tarmac and larger towns of Migori or Homa Bay. Like most lakeside communities, Nyamanga is primarily a fishing village, but small scale agriculture is also a primary source of income for many of the inhabitants.

The Nyamanga Dispensary serves approximately 6,200 people within not only the Nyamanga village but also 10 other surrounding villages, and other isolated interior communities. It was founded as a community-based organization 6 years ago, with the majority of its income coming from community donations. For many people it is the only health facility within 5 or 6 km, making the need for its services vast.

Donations from the charity IFAD, and from the Kenyan Community Development Fund have allowed for the construction of a maternity ward and a staff house to increase its service capacity. However the main clinic building still lacks basic amenities such as electricity and rain gutters.

Despite being located along the lake, access to clean water is still a challenge in the region. Transporting water from the lake manually is labor intensive. Rain falls heavily during the main planting season between the months of March to June, and briefly in October to December, but the times in between are completely dry. The lake is a very contaminated water source, being that it is open to many pollutants from land runoff and from commercial fishing. The best solution for consistent access to clean water is rain catchment systems consisting of rain gutters and large catchment tanks.

Project Description
This project is to install rain gutters along the roof of the Nyamanga Dispensary and the staff house behind it.

A 6,000L tank and the cement base to support the tank have already been donated by the local branch of the Kenya Women’s Finance Trust, and by funds from the community, but have been sitting idle next to the clinic due to lack of funds to install the gutters.

Another tank for the staff house will be provided by the Ministry of Health. The tanks will sit adjacent to the buildings, and the gutters will run along the edge of the roof, collecting the water and delivering it to a pipe connected to the tank. The water is retrieved via a tap at the bottom.

Water Charity funds will pay for the metal gutters, connecting clips, tank tap, metal dropper pipes, gutter ends, and sealant putty. They will be purchased in town 6 km away, and transported via motorbike.

The installation will be done by a local technician and should take two days to complete.

Water Charity funds will also pay for the transport cost and for the labor fee for the technician.

The gutters will be maintained by the clinic staff and by the clinic monitoring committee.

Project Impact
6,200 people will benefit from the project.

Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Elise Comments

This project exemplifies the leverage that can be achieved by providing the resources to complete a project that has stalled due to lack of funds. It yields tremendous impact for the money spent, and will greatly improve the health and wellbeing of the community members who are dependent on the clinic for health services.

Dollar Amount of Project
$260.00

Donations Collected to Date
$260.00

Dollar Amount Needed
$0.00 – This project has been fully funded through the generosity of friends and family of Peace Corps Volunteer Elise Wojcik.

We encourage others to continue to donate using the Donate button below, and we will notify Elise of your donation. Additional funds will be used to fund the next project by Elise and/or those of other PCVs in the country of service.

This project has been finished. To read about the conclusion of the project, CLICK HERE.