WaSH Warriors: Empowerment through Education
Reports from UNICEF reveal that up to half of all safe water initiatives fail within the first few years. H2O4ALL strives to combat this trend and create truly lasting change by empowering our client communities to maintain their own water systems, ensuring that future generations can benefit from a sustainable water source.
WaSH (water, sanitation, and hygiene) education is a vital step toward empowering communities to safely and sustainably manage their own water sources. After the implementation of each H2O4ALL safe water system, community members have the opportunity to join in water safety trainings. H2O4ALL administers these trainings in local languages, empowering parents to pass on what they learned to their children.
Participants in these trainings learn about the dangers of contaminated water, including the risk of diarrheal diseases such as cholera and typhoid and the risk of skin diseases from washing with unclean water. They discuss risk factors for contaminated water, including open defecation, waste disposal near water sources, and sharing water sources with animals. Finally, the session stressed the importance of personal hygiene in preventing the spread of disease, especially while transporting water.
In Spring 2024, H2O4ALL worked with the Kenya Water for Health Organization (KWAHO) to administer WaSH training to our partner community in Nairiri, Meru County, Kenya. Before the project, both Mailiari Health Centre and the Nairiri community suffered from dire water stress. Local women recall spending hours each day looking for water, while hospital staff frequently relied on unsafe water from vendors to care for their patients. Because of the lack of safe water, waterborne diseases were rampant within the community, and conditions at the health centre were unsafe for patients and staff alike.
The safe water system represented a new beginning for the community, and water safety training was a vital step toward ensuring that the Nairiri community could continue to benefit from it. In late April 2024, Mailiari staff worked with the Kenya Water for Health Organization and H2O4ALL to facilitate water safety training, taking the lead in combating waterborne diseases in their community. Petronila Musonye from KWAHO, who had previously joined H2O4ALL for water safety training sessions in Mulika Village and Mtomodoni Village in Kenya, facilitated a class of 81 Nairiri community members.
In September 2024, a team from Reach One Touch One Ministries is on the ground in Kibaale Village. The project at Kibaale Village will provide more than five thousand people in Kibaale and the surrounding communities with clean, safe, and reliable water, a massive change from the community’s current circumstances. The few existing wells in the area frequently run dry, and more than three-quarters of the community has no access to clean water. Local swamps are unprotected and frequently contaminated, leaving families exposed to waterborne diseases.
After the safe water system is complete, our Uganda team will work with the community to educate families about hand hygiene, water safety, and how to keep their new water source clean. By empowering the community to take an active role in maintaining their water system, we can ensure that the community’s safe water access lasts for a long time.
