This project is made possible through the partnership of Water Charity and the National Peace Corps Association. 
Location
Matanda Primary School, Mansa District, Luapula Province, Zambia
Community Description
Matanda is a rural community, and there is no electricity or running water. Most community members rely on farming as their primary source of income. Matanda Primary 
School is about 69 km or about 42.8 miles from the Provincial Capital of Mansa.
Problem Addressed
The school uses a borehole that provided poor-quality drinking water. The water is reddish in color, with an excess of iron caused by the iron pipes. This forces the young pupils, mostly girls, to walk long distances in search of an alternative source of water.
Project Description
A new borehole will be installed to provide water for the school. With this new source of water, students will no longer have to search for an alternative source of clean drinking water.
The depth of the borehole will be 32.5 meters with a static water level of 7.3 meters.
The community will provide labor, sand, and stone for the project. The value of these contributions is about 20% of the full project cost.
Project Impact
This project will directly impact 744 people, 730 students and a teaching staff of 14. This borehole will also impact visitors and future students.
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Emily McKeone
Monitoring and Maintenance
These boreholes have an expected lifetime of 50 years. It is the hope of many that the communities will sustain their borehole for that lifetime.
The students will engage in the process of sensitizing the community. Teachers will prepare a class on the water, sanitation, and proper utilization of the borehole. Course discussions included information about boiling drinking water, chlorine usage, washing hands after latrine use and proper hygiene. Following the course, students will create sketches, poems, and songs of various scenarios around water and sanitation. These students will then showcase their creations to sensitize the community at large. The Mansa Municipal Council (the local project partner) will be present to discuss maintenance topics and spare part prices.
Matanda Primary School has formed a maintenance committee to monitor and protect the borehole. Teachers and the Parent-Teacher Association are involved in the 
committee and will ensure proper regulation. This committee will meet regularly to address any issues that arise. The committee will be responsible for determining hours of operation for the borehole and locking the borehole on off-hours, as well as community fees. All community fees will be safely secured for a spare parts fund.
Comments
The school will have a reliable source of good-quality drinking water. The impact of a clean water source on campus is expected to improve health and sanitation at school, resulting in improved school attendance.
During community sensitization, students are to perform skits and poems about water and sanitation topics, and their new water source. Students were encouraged to plant trees and gardens near the borehole. The school was provided with two fruit trees.
While this is not an official Let Girls Learn project, it does fall into Water Charity’s LGL+ grouping of projects that have a pronounced element involving helping girls go to, and stay in, school.
Emily McKeone worked with Water Charity as a PCV, directing the prototype project, which created boreholes for 3 schools. With the assistance of Water Charity, she was able to come back to Zambia as an RPCV to continue her work. Now we are completing 13 more school boreholes in conjunction with Emily, bringing the total to 16 schools boreholes in Zambia. This is school #6 of 13.
This project is part of our Water for Zambia Program. It also falls under our ongoing East Africa Water & Sanitation Program.
This project has been fully paid for by an anonymous donor.
If you like this project, please donate to the Water for Zambia Program so that we will have money available for similar projects.
This project has been completed. To see the results, CLICK HERE.
