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Fundraising Goal Progress:
$1,550,000 of $1,600,000
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Decades of war have destroyed basic infrastructure, disrupted traditional farming practices, and led to crippling dependence on emergency food aid. The violence also left deep emotional wounds and a government willing but unable to meet basic needs. In cooperation with an experienced in-country partner, Lifewater is responding to the needs of two sub-counties, Ogur and Abako, in the northern part of the country.A baseline survey conducted before the project began revealed the following: Ogur: 65.8% of households use an improved sanitation facility 21.3% of
households use improved, hygienic, and accessible sanitation facilities 25.0% of
households have access to an improved source for drinking water within
acceptable reach and available daily Abako: 5.3% of households use an improved sanitation facility 2.7% of
households use improved, hygienic, and accessible sanitation facilities 9.3% of
households have access to an improved source for drinking water within
acceptable reach and available daily
For many years, the people of northern Uganda suffered from violent conflicts between rebel groups and government forces. Now, with peace prevailing at long last, communities are focusing on rebuilding.
With exemplary leadership and Lifewater’s assistance over the past nine years, Lifewater's Ugandan partner, Divine Waters Uganda, has become one of the region’s most respected water development organizations, gaining the trust and collaboration of the government, churches, other non-governmental agencies, and the local people. It has drilled over 400 safe water wells.
As it obtains funding, Divine Waters is establishing a safe water system in each community and training local water committees in user fee collection, well maintenance, and well repair. It also trains teachers, local health promoters, and local government workers in sanitation and hygiene education so that these leaders can train their people. This project is benefitting a minimum of 96,000 people in 271 communities. Work includes the following:
Lifewater's initiative in Ogur and Abako implements innovative strategies to meet the unique challenges of the region. One of these strategies is engaging and empowering war-weary young men through soccer training and tournaments. A requirement for participation in the soccer program is practicing good hygiene. Gradually, these young men become WASH promoters and models of change for healthy, life-saving behaviors in their communities. For a glimpse into the growing success of this innovative program, please take a few minutes to watch Soccer and WASH!
The average cost per beneficiary for this project is $35.
$15,000 Deep well at a school
$12,500 Deep well at a village
$5,500 Shallow well at a village
$3,000 Hand pump repair at a school
$2,500 Hand pump repair at a village
Thank you for helping to restore hope in northern Uganda! To donate to this project, write "Restoring Hope" in the comments box.
Spring 2012 - Hunt. Sell. Give. Save Lives.
Lifewater International presents Bigger&Better Hunt: Ultimate Challenge to rebuild communities and restore lives in northern Uganda.
The Challenge:
Groups start with a simple object, like a paper clip, and compete to turn that object into the biggest and best object by going from house to house, trading the object for something bigger or better. At the end of the allotted time, groups come back and show off their final prize. The group then sells those objects through an auction, raffle, or craigslist and then donates proceeds to Lifewater’s Project Restoring Hope in Northern Uganda. Great for church youth groups or school clubs. Click here for more info.
Winter 2011 - Hope Continues to Rise
Nearly 80,000 people have now gained access to safe water through Lifewater’s Project Restoring Hope. Lifewater and our in-country partner, Divine Waters Uganda (DWU), have drilled 7 shallow wells, tested 40 water quality samples, repaired 8 hand pumps, held two sanitation promotion events, and trained eight health assistants in Lifewater’s Community Health Through Hygiene curriculum.
“From today I will make sure I keep the clean water given to us safe from the source to the last point of drinking, and I also will train my fellow women who never got the chance to attend this training.” -Lillian, Okano Idero village
Project Restoring Hope has had a tremendous impact in places like Agali, where women often bear the burden of unsafe water due to their societal expectations to cook and care for the household and family. Mr Sirino Omongi of Agali, 36 years old and a father of 5 children said, “Walking long distances looking for water made most of the marriages in our village unsuccessful. This is because women could leave home and take from 2 to 3 hours at the water source, leaving most of the home work not done…I therefore thank God so much for choosing Divine Waters to work in the community as a change agent.”
Project Restoring Hope will continue to provide Ugandans with tangible help through fulfilling Lifewater’s strategic objectives. Lifewater and DWU plan to continue drilling shallow wells, repairing hand pumps, training community leaders in hygiene, promoting sanitation through events, and showing Jesus films.
“I used to walk for over 5 km in search for clean water and yet come back with dirty water. This new source will for sure change my life.” -Costa Acen, Aber Idwogo village
Lifewater has raised over $1,500,000 for Project Restoring Hope. With five months remaining in the project, Lifewater’s goal is to raise $22,500 each month to reach the remaining $135,000 needed to complete the project by June 2012.
Fall 2011 - Shallow Well and Training Inspires Income Generating Activities
A safe water source is an essential step towards a brighter future for villages such as Alek Odio. Not only is the well protecting community members from a variety of water-borne illnesses and saving countless lives, but it also is restoring dignity and worth. Men, women, and children with no option than to drink water known to be polluted by human feces, can now proudly fetch safe, clean water and can unite as a community to protect and maintain the well.
In addition to drilling the well, DWU trained the community in water source management and helped them set up a committee to oversee the well and its maintenance. Lifewater ensures that each new well is accompanied by sustainability, hygiene, and sanitation trainings. After the trainings, the residents of Alek Odio decided to buy a plot of land near the water source where they will plant bananas and onions to generate income for maintenance of the well. This is one of the significant steps people in rural Uganda are taking that will extend the benefits of their well beyond short-term health and into a source of long-term community transformation.
(Mary Ololo presenting during the DWU training pictured above)
Summer 2011 - Sustainability and Community Ownership
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Lifewater projects emphasize sustainability and community ownership leading to effective change. Recently this has been evidenced in a northern Ugandan village called Abunga Corner, where 829 people benefitted from a well drilled this July. After the drilling, the community was trained on three topics, called "Water Source and Sanitation Committee", "Community Diversity", and "Advocacy for Gender Equality". This training series discusses how to protect, maintain, and maximize the health benefits of the well, and why it is important to include all groups of society in management of the well.
After these trainings, the parish chief of the area, a 39 year-old man named Opua Dickens, told Lifewater's local partner, Divine Waters Uganda, "The training of community diversity, if possible, should be adapted by all NGO's who deals in water sectors. This is because you see most NGO's drill water and after drilling, communities don't see them again, yet this kind of training helps the community in very many ways. This is because if the community does not participate in the water source management the water source gets broken very fast. This kind of training is going to make us join hands together in its maintenance and this will make it easy for supervision and not overburdening the water source and sanitation committee. Each and every person will be given when (he or she) is supposed to work at the water source, what he or she is supposed to do and why he (or she) is doing it." This is very solid affirmation of the effective transformation that Lifewater is helping to bring about in communities!
Spring 2011 - Easter Gift Match Raises Nearly $18,000 in Donations
Thank you to all who contributed to this effort. Because of the Easter Gift Match success, Lifewater will be able to fund three shallow wells and two hand pump repairs in northern Uganda. This will bring safe, accesible water to 2,500 children, men and women who are resettling in their communities after living in the Internally Displaced Persons Camps due to the LRA tragedies.
We will report on this work as soon as it is completed. Here are a few comments from Ugandans who have already benefitted from Lifewater's work in 2011:
“I had been suffering from stomach problems for a long time, because the unprotected spring we were fetching water from was giving me worms. I tried to treat myself and spent a lot of money, which I would have used at home. But since we got this water, I am now utilizing my money on household needs. I am healthy, and I can do my farm production to increase my household income.”
— Grace of Oyengo Olwedo, Uganda
“In our culture, women are the ones who do more work than men. But because of this training, I am going to take up the work of mobilizing men for community work.”
— Ogwang Jimmy of Oyengo Olwedo, Uganda
Winter 2011 - A Deep Well Comes to Arwot Oryema Village
Families celebrate their new well.
(Click photo for more.)
The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels invaded Peter Omilio's community of Arwot Oryema several years ago. Peter described how the LRA attacked people in his village, killing one person and abducting one woman, causing panic in the community. In an attempt to find safety, everyone abandoned the community for a town 80 kilometers away, where they lived in refugee camps. However, even in the relative security of the refugee camps, survival was difficult due to severe water shortages.
“We were so many in the camp. To get water for home use was truly difficult and would take us about three hours. Therefore other less important uses of water like bathing was not a priority to us. It was normal for us not to bath for many days,” said Peter. When the LRA violence subsided and people began to return home, they found their village completely destroyed. As they rebuilt their homes and lives, lack of safe water was the biggest challenge.
“This water source [we use] dries completely during dry season. At this time (dry season) I’m always reminded of the experience we had in the camp. We needed a safe water source to fully settle home,” Peter lamented, adding that the current source breeds a lot of germs which had caused stomach-related health problems. Arwot Oryema has a population of about 446 people who drank from the contaminated source, and nearly all of them suffered from diarrhea, typhoid, dysentery and other WASH-related diseases. Their suffering was great, since were unable to afford medical treatment.
Irene Akao, a wife and a mother of seven children living in Arwot Oryema, described the changes she has seen since a deep well was drilled by Lifewater's in-country partner. “When I use water from the new well, there is a very big difference with the water from the unprotected spring that I see when cooking food and when it stays in the storage container. The food cooked by the unprotected spring water will change the colour to brown, [and become that way] in the storage containers. But this well water is good; the food and storage container don’t turn brown." She continued, "I thank God because now my children don’t have rashes as when we used to bath with the unprotected spring water.”
Fall 2010 - Meeting Urgent Water Needs
(Click photo for more.)
In July-September 2010 (last reporting period for our Ugandan partners), 13,094 men, women, and children in northern Uganda gained access to safe water. In addition 60 hygiene trainers received ongoing training and mentoring. A total of 33 communities gained new water sources: 21 through new boreholes and 12 through repaired hand pumps.
Santa Anyangi, a mother to 7 and married to Anyangi, was voted to be the treasurer of their village’s new well. At the Water Source and Sanitation Committee training Santa Anyangi shared, ’We had been walking for 3km to go and look for water for drinking and anyone who could not manage the distance had to drink very dirty water from the unprotected spring. Most people have been suffering from diarrhea and many water-related diseases, and I had been spending a lot of money for treatment every month, but now I can use the money for other household things. Thank God for [the] trainings and the water they have drilled for us.”
More than half of the population in northern Uganda obtains water from unsafe sources. Almost every child competes with parasites for nutrition, and life-threatening diarrhea is common. The need is urgent. Lifewater is well-equipped to respond and is doing so as funding is provided.
Summer 2010 - Drilling Wells and Training
Thanks to a successful gift match in June, nine shallow wells have been drilled in Ogur and Abako since our last update, with 18 more scheduled to be drilled in the next few months. In addition to the new wells, 13 broken wells were repaired. As a result, over 6,000 people received safe water!
In addition, the WASH league soccer teams received hygiene promotion education, as did 90 community health workers and 9 teachers. A community leader who received training, Janet Apio Ogwal in Abako sub county, said, “After the training I took a step to train all my neighbors and my church members, helping them make tippy taps and begin hand washing with soap. I started with my own family, having been taught that children can be change makers in the family and the community as well. My children used to suffer from diarrhea and stomach problems and…now my children live free of sickness.”
As a result of the successful WASH Soccer program Divine Waters Uganda (DWU) has been recognized by WASH UNITED (international coalition of governments and civil society working to promote WASH in Africa). DWU will now be launching WASH SOCCER in five schools both in Ogur and Abako sub-counties. The importance of hygiene education will continue to be disseminated through WASH soccer team members.
Spring 2010 - End-of-Season WASH League Soccer Match
A crowd of 5,000 people gathered on May 29 to watch the final soccer match, and observe our partners' demonstrations of rain catchment systems, latrine construction, hand pumps, and biosand filters. Comedy skits and songs were performed demonstrating the importance of WASH. In attendance were a number of government dignitaries. As part of the event, Divine Waters Uganda was named the most innovative nongovernmental organization by the Ugandan government.
Winter 2010 - Sewing Up War-Torn Northern Uganda
For many years, the people of northern Uganda suffered from violent conflicts between rebel groups and government forces. Now, with peace prevailing at long last, communities are focusing on rebuilding.
Four shallow wells have been drilled in Ogur so far, with two more scheduled to be drilled this month. Lwala primary school just received their new deep borehole, which will be outfitted with a well and hand pump this month. See our projects in Nakuru, Kenya for more information on how WASH is changing the lives of schoolchildren. Our partner is doing some extra geological surveys to determine how many shallow wells are possible within these sub-counties. Shallow wells require far less time, funds and equipment, however, the right geology is key.
Additionally, trainings were conducted for four water point committees as well as a very successful curriculum adaptation training that Lifewater conducted with the partner in January. In essence, Lifewater was able to raise up the partner trainers to become locally-adapted curriculum writers themselves, allowing them to use curriculum prepared in North America and disseminate it in culturally and linguistically appropriate ways. Symbolically via the passing of whiteboard markers, the torch of responsibility for new hygiene curriculum was passed onto the partner!
In order to promote the importance of hygiene education, Lifewater’s partner hosted a men’s soccer tournament. Two hygiene and sanitation trainings were recently held for all sixteen teams. Each team member had to conform to WASH standards to qualify to play (build and use a latrine in their house and wash hands with soap before meals and after using the latrine). Dubbed “WASH and Soccer!”, these athletes are now entering their second season and have become invaluable agents of change in their communities. The soccer tournament has several other benefits as well - it has enabled men and boys from once warring groups to rebuild their identities and character and build friendships with one another. Felix Okado, our partner’s Mission Coordinator reported, “This war segregated people. Many people hate each other. Soccer has come in our mind because we know it brings many people together. We realized that soccer is reconciling people back to other people.”
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