Semukombe 2, Mpigi District, Uganda

“We are thankful, our community was selected and provided with clean water. Thanks to Malvern College Hong Kong. St. Francis Bulunda Primary school and the community of Semukombe 2 village never used to have a clean source of water. The School operated with insufficient water for years, affecting children’s learning environment because the kids used to spent a lot of time walking in search of clean water because the nearest source was some 4 kilometres away. This affected their performance and grades. When it came to menstrual hygiene, the adolescent girls suffered. If any of them wanted to clean up, there was no water. Handwashing with soap and water was not considered a priority at the school and in the community. Provision of clean water has been a life changer. With little and sometimes no water at all, pupils, and more often girls, were sent to fetch water for cleaning and cooking at school. Many contracted typhoid, a bacterial infection from contaminated water that can be fatal. If they soiled their uniform, there was nothing they could do about it. Many would go home with soiled uniforms, and because of the humiliation, they never returned to school. We had very high dropout rates.”

Betty Volla Napeyok,
St Francis Bulunda Primary School Head Teacher

This project was undertaken as part of our campaign of projects that actively reduce carbon emissions. This project helped the community save their much needed wood which was previously being burnt daily to boil water. This project has also eliminated the many thousands of hours previously spent on walking to collect water.