A team of girls from Gayaza High School in Kampala, Uganda, sat down to discuss water issues within the school and the surrounding communities with the deputy head teacher, Mr. Ddungu Ronald.
Our teacher invited us to participate in a global environmental programme and introduced us to GreenContributor, an organization based in Canada that connects schools worldwide and offers students opportunities to become involved in collaborative environmental programmes. Through their connections, we collaborated with two other schools in Uganda -- the Parvatiben Muljibhai Madhvani (PMM) Girls' School in Jinja and the St. Peter's Secondary School in Nkokonjeru.
We e-mailed teachers and students, inviting them to join an online classroom to discuss water scarcity in their communities. We had forty participants, including an active member from PMM, Amina Sharifa, whose creativity contributed much to the discussion through her researched examples and similar situations in different countries.
In the second and third week, we discussed water availability and its usage in and out of the school, and conducted a water audit. We calculated the average amount used in our school, which pumps water from a bore well. Unfortunately, the students in my school waste water without regard for the many people who barely have a drop. It was important that we undertook this activity to reflect on this problem.
In the fourth week, the team visited the nearby community well. It was disheartening to see people fetching dirty water from the well situated near toilets and contaminated with algae. A good number of the children interviewed said they suffered from typhoid, and the adults told us that treatment was expensive, costing at least 90,000 Uganda Shillings, or forty-five dollars.
Later on, in a pilot project at a primary school in our neighbourhood, we researched water scarcity, including a sensitization programme, hoping to change the attitudes of adults and children. GreenContributor supported us with a water programme curriculum and a water treatment manual from the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (SODIS). The SODIS method treats drinking water with sunlight and the use of polyethylene terephthalate bottles, also known commonly as PET. The Uganda Health Marketing Group supported us by introducing the use of the Aquasafe tablet to treat water and donated eleven water tanks. Today, there is a water champion at every water point in our school to ensure that the tanks are filled and the water is treated.
What did we discover and learn while working on this project?
Statistics from our pilot school showed that 30 per cent of the students missed school daily due to one or several water-borne diseases. We even learned that almost 25 per cent of the students taking part in GreenContributor programmes in Kenya missed school daily because of these diseases. Why should a child lose the basic right to go to school because he or she becomes ill from contaminated water? We discovered that the greatest cause of illness is ignorance of the dangers of drinking unsafe water.
We also learned traditional ways of conserving water when our school water pump was vandalized and there was not a drop of water in the entire school. We harvested rain water!
We ventured outside of the school gates and connected with elderly and young people on matters of the environment. This brought us closer to our communities.
My friend Martha said, "I really have gained a lot from the project and I hope to continue with it wherever I go. This is a life-changing activity." Another friend, Patience, said, "I want to do anything in my power to ensure proper water conservation and preservation. I have understood the value of water in our society."
The international perspective provided by GreenContributor completes the learning cycle where we are able to connect with many schools around the world. We plan to use the GreenContributor model of being a Nodal school and, together with the assistance of teachers and support from GreenContributor and other organizations, reach out to other schools in our community (and hopefully our neighbouring countries), educate the students about the importance of water hygiene, treatment and conservation, and solicit the active participation of parents and elders in this cause.
We are proud to be a part of this cause. Never give up!
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