Clean, Safe Drinking Water for Gathiga Hope Children’s Home
January 12, 2011Gathiga, Kenya
In November I was asked by one of our ministry partners to look at a hand pump at the Gathiga Hope Children’s Home near Gathiga town. The Afri-Dev hand pump that had been installed on one of their two 100-foot, hand-dug boreholes had stopped working and needed repair. When we arrived at the home I was quite shocked at the condition of the home. It was obvious that the home did not have a large donor base and was desperately in need of funds. As we stepped out of the vehicle we were greeted by 100 happy children who call this place home. Even though the condition of the home was not the best, it was clear these children were happy and well cared for.
Walking over to the borehole that had the hand pump, we found it had been removed and replaced by an electric submersible pump. Apparently a donor had come forward and helped pay for the installation and two submersible pumps so the home would have water again. 100 children need a lot of water every day and not having water creates a huge burden at the school.
As a submersible pump had already been installed, it looked as if my services would not be needed after all. Little did I know how wrong I was. After asking some questions about the construction of the boreholes, I knew we still had our work cut out for us. It turned out that the water had tested positive for contamination, so it was not safe for the children to drink. If you were to look at this water in a glass, it appeared clear and clean to drink. Looks can be deceiving.
A doctor from another organization was also at the home the same day we were there doing medical checks on all the children. She told us many of the children had stomach problems. We determined the water at the home might be the reason for this. A quick survey showed the school is on a small plot of land and the two boreholes are near the latrines without the standard 50-meter distance between borehole and latrine. These latrines are also about the same depth as the boreholes and were not lined to prevent leaching into the aquifer. The children were probably getting sick because fecal coliform bacteria was leaking from the latrines into their drinking water.
Somehow we needed to come up with a strategy to treat the water the children were drinking to improve the health at the home. We decided it would be best to treat about 200 liters of water a day. This would give each child two liters of clean, safe drinking water per day. We also decided the home was a good candidate for a device called a “chlorinator” to meet the clean water needs of the home. This 12-volt device will make chlorine for treating water from inexpensive cooking salt and water.
In late December we returned to the home with a chlorinator kit, 12-volt battery, solar panel to recharge the battery and some cooking salt. Two older boys and one of the teachers at the home volunteered to learn this process and to perform the treatment of borehole water at the home. Within a few hours after the treatment process the water was ready for the children to drink. The children enjoyed their new water and seemed to have no problems drinking the treated water. We also ran a specific coliform bacteria test to confirm our suspicion about the latrines and within twelve hours the test came back positive for this bacteria. Coliform bacteria should never be found in well water or other sources of drinking water.
Before we left the home we presented our three trainees, Calvinge, Kamau and teacher Lucy with the Living Water Book (The Gospel of John) to quench their spiritual thirst.
In the next few months we will be monitoring the treatment process at the home and will be available to provide technical assistance and encouragement for the trainees. We will also be monitoring the health of the children at the home.
