Water, Sanitation and Hygiene
Unsafe water and lack of sanitation are major causes of illness in Lwala. Of 244 children who were tested in Lwala and nearby Andingo primary schools, 78% were infected with at least one species of intestinal parasite. The clinic has subsequently done a de-worming outreach at area primary schools. The LCA has done two small water projects in Lwala. We drilled a well and installed a hand pump to supply clean water at the clinic and for the clinic’s neighbors, in partnership with Blood:Water Mission and a Kenyan NGO called Groups of Women in Agriculture K’Ochieng’ (GWAKO). In summer 2007 a group of Vanderbilt University students spent several weeks in Lwala working with neighbors to protect a freshwater spring.
However, the problems of water, sanitation and hygiene are broader and deeper than small projects can solve. To meet these larger challenges, we are planning a larger water, sanitation and hygiene project in partnership with Blood:Water Mission. The program will be coordinated through women’s groups in approximately ten villages in the Lwala area, each of which will provide two members to be trained as trainers in hygiene education. These women’s groups will then be mobilized in an area-wide competition to provide training, to build latrines and to provide certain locally available raw materials for well drilling and spring protection. Once all of the groups have met the requirements they specify, we will contract with an outside organization to do the well drilling and spring protection using local volunteer labor wherever possible.
Water at the Clinic
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