Donor: Scott and Nancy Hancock

Situated 32 kilometres North East of Masindi town, the village of Kitengule clings to the sides of a dusty road, a cluster of small shops and houses trying to scratch a living from the infrequent vehicles which pass through. Stray away from the main road and one finds oneself in a landscape characterised by the subsistence farming which the locals engage in, sowing their crops of cassava, maize and groundnut among the boulder strewn landscape.

A small community of only 80 households, it is particularly underserved by basic utilities despite it’s close proximity to a road. The nearest school is 4km away, along with the nearest health centre and if the residents wish to drink anything other than the water which comes from the open source nearby, then they must undertake a 8km round trip to collect water from the Busoga Trust America funded source in Nyakarongo.

The only water source within the desired 1.5km catchment area is an open spring situated in a shallow valley to the west of the village. As with Kihaguzi, the topography of the land leads to surface run off during the rainy season draining into the open source. In an area where open defecation is practiced, this is likely to result in the village’s source of drinking water being contaminated with human faecal matter.

One female villager told us that it didn’t taste very good and that sometimes you experienced worms in the water. She said that people would occasionally suffer from stomach disorders. It is evident in this community that although they ask for clean water, they don’t connect the cause to the effect of diseases. Although claiming that they had no diseases in the open source the LC1 Chairman, Gilbert Angala, stated that they suffered from diarrhoea and malaria, two diseases intrinsically connected to open water sources. This situation demonstrates how the health education aspect of our work is equal, if not greater in importance, to the technical provision of clean water. It is central to the ethos of the Busoga Trust that the tripartite elements of water, sanitation and hygiene be regarded not as separate issues but as one complete challenge to human life at the most basic level.

View the Kitengule Photo Gallery

Update:

Water Quality Data Before and After Busoga Trust Intervention

Ecoli organisms per 100 ML

Old Source: 103

BTA Well: 41

Percent Change: -60%

E. coli is a fecal bacteria which causes diarrhea, violent stomach cramps, and fever. It can be transmitted through contaminated food or water. US EPA water standards require Ecoli and similar bacteria be completely absent from 95% of the water samples taken from a system.

Turbidity/NTU

Old Source: 5

BTA Well: 5

Percent Change: -0%

Turbidity is a measure of water clarity; it is an indicator of how much solid mass (silt, sand, clay, algae) and potentially disease-causing organisms a water source contains. Turbidity is measured in Nephelometric Turbidity Units.  In the United States, the allowable standard is 1 NTU; Uganda strives for a turbidity level of less than 15 NTU.