Friendly Water for the World August 2021 newsletter

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Subject: Friendly Water for the World August 2021 newsletter

Hi Friend,

I'm Connie Vasek, the Board Chairperson for Friendly Water for the World, and I want to thank you for reading our monthly newsletter, Essential Resources. This month, our main story is about water security in Matsakha, Kenya. We have started a program to build rainwater catchments for children at more than a dozen schools there. To me, water security means that these children, that all of us, will have access to clean water today, tomorrow, and in the future.

The United Nations working definition for water security is “The capacity of a population to safeguard sustainable access to adequate quantities of quality water for sustaining livelihoods, human well-being, and socio-economic development, for ensuring protection against waterborne pollution and water-related disasters, and for preserving ecosystems in a climate of peace and political stability.” This is a lot.

I grew up where there was always plenty of good water. I took it all for granted. Like you, I need water for my own drinking, bathing, and cleaning. We all need water to farm our food, to create our electricity, and to build industry. For all this and more, there must be enough snow in the mountains and rain on the ground to fill the rivers and lakes. Our neighbors need to allow water to get to us and not contaminate it along the way while regulations must help distribute this resource fairly and honestly.

That's why we must start building water security now. The news is filled with reports of drought and wildfires. I have seen many plants and trees around me scorched by our recent heatwave here in Washington State. Some reservoirs have 10-20% of their average capacity of water. On the other hand, there are places inundated with torrential rains and unseasonable flooding. It is becoming more and more difficult to know when the rain will come and also have the means to secure it when it does arrive. If climate changes are a problem for us here, I can only wonder what effects this all has for people in parts of the world who do not have the resources that we enjoy.

The Covid-19 pandemic has shown us how small and interconnected our world is. Our warming planet is now home to many places that no longer have adequate and accessible water supplies. What can we do to improve this? Well, let's start with the rain, a good roof, and a tank. Actually, let's start with 50 tanks that create one million liters of water security for more than 7,000 school children in Matsakha.

Connie Vasek

Board Chairperson

One Million Liters

Just how much is one million liters? It's approximately 264,000 gallons. Or, if you've been watching Tokyo 2020, about 40% of an Olympic-sized swimming pool. That's how much water the 50 rainwater catchment tanks we are building at schools in Matsakha, Kenya will hold. You won't be able to breaststroke in those tanks, but who knows what medals the schoolchildren may win in the future with clean, easily accessible water finally within reach.

Officially, our new Water Security program will use local mason and support teams to site, construct, and maintain 50 25,000 liter curved-brick rainwater catchment tanks to provide over 1,000,000 liters of water security at Matasakha schools, a clinic, and a market.

This program is part of our Matsakha Build run out of the Kakamega Build Center in Kakamega County, Kenya. As with every program, we build using a Community Investment process that starts and ends with people. We have been fortunate to find dedicated partners in the people of Matsakha, their representative organization - Matsakha Development Group (MDG), and local community-based organization, Transforming Communities for Social Change (TCSC).

Program Success

This Water Security program is built on the many small successes of the first two Matsakha Build programs. Following a 3-day Community Engagement event in October of last year, MDG decided to start with Good Hygiene to help tackle the challenge of Covid-19.

Matsakha Build programming

Good Hygiene
Building Better
Water Security
Safe Cooking
Clean Water
Sustainable Food
Improved Sanitation

That first program has seen the production of almost 6,000 liters of 'Meta' soap, achieved national certification and the acclaim of local government, and helped improve the lives of both the MDG members and the local community. The second program, Building Better, has resulted in the training of MDG members in the fabrication of Interlocking Stabilized Soil Bricks. The curved type of these bricks will be used as the walls of the rainwater catchment tanks in this program. MDG has so far pressed over 11,000 of these bricks, all directly at the local schools where the tanks will be constructed.

Why Is This Program Important?

The first tasks in our Community Investment Plan step for this specific program are to send representatives to the schools to meet the staff and administration, survey the schools for data and information, and site the potential roofs and tanks. As part of that survey, we have discovered that we aren't the first development organization at these schools. This was not a surprise. What is also not surprising is that the previous organizations 'solutions' are either broken or have significantly less capability than the schools require.

Technologies like water pumps, borehole wells, and tanks are installed all over the developing countries in which we work. By most estimates, the majority, perhaps the vast majority of these projects fail. Either the technology breaks, like the tap on the rainwater catchment tank pictured here at Matsakha Primary School, or the solution is only a short-term fix, failing to meet future needs. Our programs are designed from the start to sustainably meet their objectives. And this Water security program is no different (more on that below).

matsakha primary rainwater catchment tank

Another part of our site survey asks the school members about their most pressing water needs. Almost every school mentioned that:

students miss class fetching water (which is often located off the school grounds)
students miss class and study time queueing in line to use limited water
school labs, kitchens, and gardens don't have enough water
there is no excess water for other needs like sanitation or supporting the local community
students get sick from waterborne illnesses

These answers are probably just the start. They don't begin to capture the stress and general mental hardship that a water insecure environment, especially one at a school, can create.

The Plan

For this program, 15 locations were chosen for the tanks including 13 schools, one medical clinic, and one marketplace. The team decided that each school should receive three tanks, the clinic two, and the marketplace five. The other three tanks will be constructed at schools in nearby Kambiri. The build phase of the program should take approximately 24 months.

Almost all the schools are currently using a borehole well for water and have inadequate water storage. The water they collect is often also used in the nearby community. The tanks need good roofs and there are plenty of large school buildings, some over 120 feet long, ready to put their roofs to work. We will install gutters on these roofs and ensure they are in good working order.

Our Africa Programs Manager, Eric Lijodi, and a team of masons based in nearby Kambiri will train MDG members in rainwater collection analysis, foundation building, tank construction, water treatment techniques, and maintenance skills. We plan to have at least two teams building tanks simultaneously. The tanks will use our new design that has recently been approved by the local Departments of Works, Physical Planning, and Health.

Each 25,000-liter curved-brick tank costs $1600. That's a 60% savings over the cost of commercial plastic tank water capacity. And $600 of that cost is labor. Labor that will be performed by masons in the community. Labor that will generate an income for those masons. That means these tanks not only have positive health and social outcomes, but they have a direct economic benefit for the people of Matsakha.

The Future

As mentioned above, development projects usually fail because they are not designed to be sustainable. We are implementing at least three strategies to create a program that meets both current and future objectives. The first is a long-term approach to relationship-building and community engagement. The second is the creation of a warranty and maintenance plan for all of the program technologies. And the third, and possibly most important, is the final step of our Community Investment process - S.C.A.L.E. That acronym stands for:

S - Start

C - Communicate

A - Assess

L - Learn

E - Encourage

These are iterative steps designed to meet the changing impacts and demands of the environment and community. In short, we want these programs to not just last, but to get better and better over time. Like the students of Matsakha Secondary, we are striving for excellence.

None of this work happens without your support. So far you have helped us raise 60% of the funding for this program. We also are discussing expanding this effort by including Improved Sanitation and Good Hygiene programs in the form of toilets and hand-washing stations for the children and teachers. Our programming is designed to be integrated and complementary and we know that these schools need water security and more.

Building a water security program with a community suggests that those men, women, and children are currently water insecure, that the situation is precarious. It is. As climate change alters rainy seasons and creates water scarcity, this program creates an opportunity to build resilience and enable families and schools to plan for a better future.

In Brief

>> Want to know more about our work with schools in Matsakha? Watch our Chat about one million liters of water security.

>> We love small donations. They are the backbone of our support.

>> If you appreciate our work, please let us know at https://greatnonprofits.org/. Your review helps promote the work we do together.

>> A rocket stove with two burners? That's a better way to make ugali and chicken.

>> Have you seen our recently released 2020 Annual Report?

>> Our next board meeting will be held on Tuesday, August 17th at 4:30. Register here.

>> Have a question or suggestion? Send an email to will@friendlywater.org.

Please share our work and invite others to join our mission.

FRIENDLY WATER FOR THE WORLD

https://friendlywater.org

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Subject: Friendly Water for the World August 2021 newsletter