Ngenge water: Training and repairs in Kapachirya

Kapachirya is one of the Ngenge villages. It has close to 300 residents, 81 of whom attended the water and sanitation hygiene (WASH) training that was given by the Sebei Diocese.

The top photo shows Eunice from the Diocese using the three-pile sort, audience participation technique to categorize pictures showing various hygiene practices into Bad, In-Between, and Good. The course allowed the villagers to describe actual practices and helped them recognize ways to improve. Some of the findings:

• The village has no hand-washing stations--none at all
  
• Consequently, washing hands following the use of latrines (or the bush) was not practiced by anyone
  
• Water is mishandled from the borehole to the time of use; for example, the same container may be used one time to collect river water (for laundry or irrigating crops) and then used the next time to collect potable water from the borehole
  
• Unwashed fruits contribute to poor hygiene (unwashed vegetables are not usually a problem as they are cooked)
  
• It's a challenge for most people in Kapachirya to afford toilet paper and it's not often used

The next two photos show repairs underway for the Kapachirya borehole, followed by the test pumping. (It appears that Michael Jordan has not cornered the market on the sticking-out-the-tongue method for improving concentration.) Unfortunately, the well repair was only partially successful. It now produces about 3.3 liters per minute. That's much better than 0 liters per minute, which was the rate beforehand, and the villagers were thrilled to have a nearby source of water after going without for more than two years. But it's not the 10 liters per minute that we target for a borehole with a hand pump.

Quite a crowd gathered as the repairs were in progress. The children entertained us with singing and dancing (what a delightful aspect of Ugandan culture) and Karen entertained them by leading them in the song, "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes." It turns out they knew it already but with slightly different words. Small world.