Monumental news for 672 households that have never had access to clean water previously!

In May 2017 work started on the Water and Sanitation project in Mela Gagula.  

Before work could start, members of the community had to first build a road to their village so that HOPE's vehicles and lorries could deliver the necessary building and plumbing materials.  A road that was accessible to vehicles never existed previously. This was back-breaking work for the community, but one they knew would be the start of a different future.  The road was completed at the end of April, but poor weather conditions meant there was a delay until the materials could safely be delivered.

In the meantime, HOPE construction staff (a hydrologist, foreman and truck driver). as well as our HOPE health educationalist, set up their tents in the village and lived amongst the community in Mela Gagula until their work was complete.  This allowed them time to develop genuine relationships with the local people and model using good hygiene and sanitation decisions.  They also provided much training - for the 20 Water Caretakers that were appointed to repair and maintain the water system - and for 15 Community Educators who taught each each household about improved hygiene behaviours (such as building pit latrines and the hygienic use of them, hand-washing with clean water, safe food preparation and storage).  This training for local people was essential to ensure that the community fully benefited from access to clean water by changing their previous habits, but also so that the system will continue to be operational years after HOPE has moved on.  Already there is a sense of local ownership of the water system, which will lead to sustainability and an increased confidence in local skills.

For this project, two springs were capped to ensure there is enough water for each of the water points.  The pipe lines were dug 5.9km, from the spring to the village, to carry the clean water.  This task kept members of the community busy for many weeks.
 

Thank you again for your support of this project.  The taps were turned on in the end of August and the official handover ceremony will took at the end of September. Already the lifestyle and quality of life for women and their children, in particular, has changed as they will no longer need to walk 3-4 hours for water each day.  The health of the whole community has improved rapidly as they drink, cook and wash with water that is safe and not contaminated.  The livestock have benefitted as well.  More food will soon be grown and consumed. Children are now able to attend school regularly and their parents can devote themselves to efforts to earn needed money for their families.  In addition, 240 women have now started new, small business as a result of their new training from HOPE staff on entrepreneurial skills, as well as fundamentals of saving and lending money.