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Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH) project in Bwama Primary School is crucial and in need of immediate implementation given the current practices and impacts of COVID-19. There are 370 students, 12 staff and 9 classrooms in this school. Currently, drinking water and hand hygiene services are not available.
This is a summer practicum project report prepared by Anit Koirala who is a professional master’s student in Global Civil Engineering at the Mortensen Center for Global Engineering Program (MCGE).
Students fetch water from the lake and boil the water for drinking, but it is not enough for the whole school. And, when the school is over, students can be seen drinking water directly from the lake as they go home. There are gender separated toilets in this school, however, menstruation hygiene management is lacking. During the parent teacher meetings, we learned that the female students go down to the lake to wash their menstruation discharge. Below are the proposed WASH interventions for this school based on our research and interactions with the parents, teachers, and students:
Proposed Solutions for WASH Challenges
Water
The for-profit/social enterprise based in Kampala, Uganda, called “SPOUTS of Water'' manufacture and sell best-in- class ceramic water filters. They distribute filters to various sectors such as schools, health centers and refugee camps. They have three different models of ceramic filters under the brand name “Purifaaya.” Purifaaya filters are considered safe and effective in treating lake water by the tests conducted by Ministries of Health from Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania as well as WHO. There are two components of the filters i.e., ceramic pot and bucket. These filters are culturally accepted as the community members already use bucket and clay pots to store water. Placing a 20L Purifaaya water filter inside each classroom would effectively tackle the problem with clean drinking water in Bwama Primary School. Below are the different models of Purifaaya filters.
Sanitation
SPOUTS of Water also manufacture and sell handwashing stations that they call “HandiClean.” It is a water storage tank with the 100L capacity that comes with a stand and a foot pedal. Water comes through the tap in the container when the pedal is pressed by a foot. This is to prevent the spread of germs and viruses when the tap is touched by hands. It will be essential for students to maintain good hand hygiene when they return to school post COVID-19 closure. Thus, having a HandiClean near each toilet can address the hand hygiene challenges in this school.
Hygiene
There also need to be liquid soaps available to make the best use of HandiCleans and ensure good hygiene. The soaps are readily available in the local markets.
Mensuration hygiene management needs to be highly prioritized in this school. GLI can assign an intern to research best practices and solutions for mensuration hygiene challenges faced by female students.
