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PROJECT OBJECTIVES: The main objective is to collect rain water from school and teacher house roofs at Twegashe Primary School and store it in two 250,000 liter underground tanks for use year round for hygiene, cleaning, cooking, drinking and agriculture by students and staff at Twegashe Primary School. The water from the underground tanks will be pumped using solar power to raised tanks, and then travel by gravity to points of use.
NEEDS and MEETING THE NEEDS:The need is for adequate water year-round for hygiene, cleaning, drinking, cooking, and agriculture for students and staff. There is copious water available during the rainy seasons and none during the dry seasons. Twegashe Integral Development, the non-profit that owns and operates Twegashe Primary School tried to provide adequate water for the school through two boreholes but the boreholes' output is very low during the dry season, and will not be enough for the entire school when it is fully enrolled.
Twegashe Primary School is a relatively new school teaching children in English from kindergarten through grade 7. (English is very important as high school is taught in English.) They add a grade each year. For the 2022 school year they have grades K, 1 and 2. Grade 3 will begin in January 2023. Construction on second school building to house grades 4 - 7 and a library began in April 2022.
There is a lack of reliable year-round water for hygiene, drinking, cooking, cleaning and agriculture. The school has small blocks of micro-flush biofil toilets for girls, boys and staff. While this number is adequate for the current school population, more are needed as the school grows in size. In addition, the line for the girls toilet is always long and the girls have taken matters into their own hands and go out into the field behind the toilets rather than wait in line. To solve this problem the grant includes funds for additional toilet blocks including a special urinal for the girls.
There are two wells which are inadequate. One has so little water as to make it functionally unusable. The other well sometimes produces enough water to fill a 5000 liter tank over several days. It takes much longer in the dry season. There are sinks with faucets in the school building and kitchen but they are not usable due to lack of water. Currently the cook hauls water by hand from a well for cooking and cleaning. When the well is productive,water is pumped to a storage tank for use later. There are bucket handwashing stations near the toilets and classrooms for the children to use as there is inadequate water to pump to the existing faucets. This requires a lot of time and effort carrying the water all day long. It was necessary to hire staff to haul water.
For drinking the school is using biosand filter for prepare well water for drinking. Currently there is only one filter which is adequate for grades k, 1 and 2. As more grades and staff are added, more filters are needed.
Water for agriculture is the greatest need. Most children are inadequately nourished. The school attempts to improve the nutrition of the children by providing two meals per day. The goal is to make those meals balanced and nutritious. Without growing their own food, this would be cost prohibitive. The village recognizes this goal and has donated additional land for agriculture. It is not possible to grow enough food without irrigation, especially during the two dry seasons.
Our project team spoke with individual members of the school community - teachers, administrative staff,maintenance and grounds keeping staff, cleaning and cooking staff. The need for more water was the primary need identified. Additional needs identified and not included in this grant were better student health to improve attendance,to reduce health problems caused by unsanitary conditions and unsafe food and water at students' homes, the need for internet and teaching materials such as computers and software for staff and students.
School staff, especially maintenance and grounds keeping staff have been involved from the beginning with constructing the buildings and installing the gutters and downspouts. They were consulted in determining where water can be directed from the roofs using gravity, positioning of the tanks and other system components.
TIME LINE:Construction will begin during the first dry season after funding is approved by The Rotary Foundation. There are two dry seasons. The big dry season is June through September and the shorter season begins sometimes in December and lasting through February. Each of the 250,000 liter tanks will take about 3 months to complete.
USE OF FUNDS:Funds will be used for construction of two 250,000 liter underground storage tanks, piping to existing faucets and new faucets for agriculture, a raised tank, solar panels and pumps, testing of the systems and training for staff in maintenance and operations. There are existing drain pipes on all roofs, faucets in the kitchen and sinks in the school building for use by students and staff.
CLUB MEMBER INVOLVEMENT: Club members of the host club, RC Karagwe, participated in updating the Community Assessment. They will participate in contractor selection and will maintain a bank account and manage funds in Tanzania. The club is not in the same town as the project so they will visit the site periodically to assess progress. The will participate in creation or reports to TRF.
The international club will raise funds, meeting with clubs to obtain support. They will manage collection of funds in the US , send funds to RC Karagwe, create reports for TRF and provide follow up information to donor clubs regarding progress and completion of the project
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