Transformation by Rainwater
At the beginning of the year, InPact received a generous contribution of £400 ($520) from Global Transformation in support of the SHINE Project. With this donation, InPact installed 4 rainwater-harvesting tanks to 4 homes in Kentomi village in Uganda.
Who are InPact? Innovation Program for Community Transformation (InPact) is a non-profit organisation committed to improving the lives of rural communities in South Western Kigezi region of Uganda. Founded in 2012, InPact areas of focus are in health, education, environment conservation and economic development.
The SHINE project is an acronym for Sanitation and Hygiene Initiatives for Everyone. The project was launched in 2019 and is aimed at improving community access to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) services with a focus on vulnerable households and marginalised schools.
Agiripina is a 46-year-old mother of 6 children: 1 son and 5 daughters, 3 of which are in school. Agripina is a subsistence farmer who grows fruits and vegetables on her small lot mostly for home consumption, with leftover sold at the market. This is her only source of income.
When asked about her water challenges, Agiripina replied, “It can take me about 40-45 minutes to get to the nearest water source, get water and return home.”
This long daily trek has always meant that Agiripina leaves her children unattended, and also loses valuable time she could be investing in other income generating ventures.
With the installation of the tank at her house, Agiripina will now be able to ‘concentrate on other activities including irrigating her crops now that she has a reliable and easily accessible water source’.
Rebecca is a single mother of 4 children: 3 boys and 1 girl. Being a single mother, Rebecca has consistently had challenges accessing clean water for her household.
Asked about her previous source of water, she stated that she has been paying local boys in town to fetch water since the water source is far away from home and after an incident when her daughter was almost defiled when she went to collect water.
Due to the costs and challenges around accessing water, Rebecca says she had resorted to rationing water use at home and this had compromised her hygiene and that of her children.
With the tank installed, Rebecca mentioned that she can now reinvest the money she has been using to pay local boys to collect water for her back into her clothing retail business.
Annet is a mother to 7 children: 5 daughters and 2 sons. Without a formal job, Annet relies on farming as a source of income that supplements her husband Joseph’s income from his periodic job as a construction worker. Before the installation of the rainwater harvesting tank, Annet and her family had to make the daily 1 kilometre trek to the nearest water source.
Annet lamenting that “Water has been my problem during school times because my children’s school program would be affected since they would have to get up early and help me fetch water, and this meant that they would always arrive late to school.’’
With the water tank now installed is now confident that her children’s school routine will not be interrupted. She also looks forward to setting up a poultry and piggery project at her home to boost her income now that she is confident of her water supply.
On a positive note, Annet’s husband, Joseph, has also drawn on his construction skills to construct a water tank base for his household as well as the 4 other households that were supported by the donation from Global Transformation. Moving forward, InPact is keen on contracting him to support with the construction of more tank bases for identified households.
James and his wife Alice are an elderly couple who live alone now that all their children are grown up and have moved to the city in search of better opportunities.
Unfortunately, the nearest water source is about 1 kilometre away, and due to their advanced age, this presents a huge challenge. To manage, they have been relying on one 20-litre can of water every two days, which they have to pay someone to deliver to their home.
Alice narrates, ‘getting a water tank has been a nightmare for the last five years because we couldn’t raise money for one.’ Alice adds that she had abandoned some chores like washing clothes and irrigating her vegetable garden because of the water scarcity.
Now with water at her home, she is keen to pick up these activities. James noted; “My wife and I are now relieved from the water problem. I was tired of buying water every other day”.