Clean water is essential for good health, everywhere in the world, but this can be difficult to achieve at times. When we first became involved with Uphill Junior School even access to water was difficult, as the community shallow well regularly ran dry and the next water source was some distance away.
Providing water at the school was one of the Trust’s earliest initiatives and, over time, we have funded small water tanks to provide water on site for drinking and hand washing along with rainwater harvesting systems to collect water from the roofs of the school buildings. The standard method for producing safe drinking water is to boil it before use, but this is difficult to achieve on a large scale in rural schools, so another solution for providing clean water is needed.
Ceramic water filtration is seems to work well and is simple to use, with the added benefit that the filtration units that the school now uses are made within Uganda.
Uphill Junior School was given one large filtration unit via a donation programme to local Ugandan schools at the end of 2017 and, after our trustee visit in March, when we had the opportunity to inspect the sturdiness of the equipment, we agreed to provide additional units – one each for the permanent classrooms and the new staffroom/library plus one small unit for the new nurse’s room. These have now arrived in school, much to the delight of the children and staff.
A big thank you to Queen Victoria School, North Curry Primary School and the individual donors who helped us to buy these additional ceramic filters for Uphill Junior School.
Now everyone can drink clean water in school, and hopefully the school nurse will see a big reduction in bacterial infections caused by drinking impure water.
Muhimbise Elius, “I wish to thank Uphill trust and all donors who supported us to get more drinking water for kids and teachers! Thank you so much!”
Tags: Ceramic water filters, Clean water, The Uphill Trust, Uphill Junior School
