No more thirst: Yumbe school gets water harvesting tanks

Nov 29, 2022

Despite being hard to reach, the school is also located in an area which has a very low water table resulting into serious water stress.

Leaders pose for group photo during the commissioning of the tanks at Goboro Primary School (Photo by Adam Gule)

Adam Gule
Journalist @New Vision

Goboro Primary School located in Kochi sub-county is one of the hard-to-reach schools in Yumbe district.

It's located about 10km away from the Uganda-South Sudan boarder.

Despite being hard to reach, the school is also located in an area which has a very low water table resulting into serious water stress.

Yusuf Taban, LC1 chairperson for Maru village where the school is located says, several boreholes have been drilled in the area but due to the low water table, none of the boreholes is functioning.

He says the only functioning borehole in the area is about 2km away from the school making it very difficult for the school children to access it at ease.

Taban adds that many times the learners of the school move to search for water in the teacher's quarters and neighboring homes when they need water for drinking.

"Oftentimes children are seen in homes of teachers and neighbors searching for water, the situation is worst during dry season," he said.

According to Ahmed Draku the headteacher of the school, the water scarcity in the area has caused alot of sanitation and hygiene-related issues among learners and teachers in the school.

He says, they need over 200 litres of water daily for use at the school but due to water shortage, they sometimes get only a 20-liter jerrican for drinking.

" We are supposed to wash the toilets daily but due to water scarcity, we don't do that. The teachers and learners sometimes try to sweep them but the cleanliness is not up-to-date" he said.

Goboro Primary School which was started in 2005 has an enrollment of 1431 of which 347 are South Sudanese refugees.

The headteacher adds that, management of menstrual hygiene among girls has become so difficult because there is no water for girls to take a shower.

The data from water department indicates that, safe water coverage in the district stands at 50% which is 12litre per person per day against the national target of 70% for rural water access.

 

Water harvesting tanks installed.

 

To minimize the water scarcity at the school, Kenya Commercial Bank Uganda ( KCB) installed two 5,000 litre each water harvesting tanks on the already existing classroom blocks of the school.

Michael Ssekyondwa , the head of retail banking at KCB Uganda says the offer is part of their cooperate social responsibility to their customers.

He says, they decided to support water supply because it connects most of the other basic needs of life.

" When you take water, it cuts across most of the basic needs of life, water helps people to be healthy and able to do other work in life" he says.

Michael appeals to the residents in the area to value education and send their children to school regardless of the challenges they face in the area.

" At our times, we studied under trees and there was only a block of classroom in the school, whenever it rains then it marks the end of learning because the few rooms would be full but we endured the situation and today we are here, please send your children to school regardless of the challenges" he says.

What leaders say

Rashid Ojoatre , Assistant Chief Administrative officer Yumbe hails KCB Uganda for the support.

He says, the support will help to address the sanitation and hygiene challenges the school was facing.

" As the water is here, we believe girls are going to be in school because there is no reason for girls to run home to bath when experiencing menstruation period" he says.

Linus Kayiah, vice chairperson LC5 Yumbe urges the residents to protect the water sources and ensure they maintain them in order for them to last for long.

John Bosco Tumwesigye, the new Resident District Commissioner Yumbe calls on the residents to conserve the environment in order to influence more rains in the area to use the tanks.

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