Tag Archives: Clean Water Project

Hope for Water at the Kibera School for Girls

Community members at the Clean Water Project in Kibera

Did you celebrate World Water Day on March 22nd? Children worldwide, especially young girls, suffer at the hands of unclean water. When water isn’t easily accessible, education also becomes less obtainable. Girls are typically the ones responsible for walking miles each day to fetch water for their families, thus taking them out of school and often placing them in harm’s way. Given these circumstances, it’s no surprise that the She’s the First partner schools I work with pour so much effort into bringing water points closer to their schools and communities.

At Shining Hope for Communities, home to our partner, the Kibera School for Girls, Kibera residents pay up to ten times more for water than those in the capital city of Nairobi. Kibera residents’ unclean water supply takes a disastrous toll on the city’s health. However, we can’t forget that hope is right in Shining Hope for Communities’ name!  Shining Hope is rejuvenating its community by providing Kibera’s largest single water point.

The Clean Water Project is in its pilot phase, but already provides 12,000 people per day with clean water. How does this impact the community? The Justin-Jinich Community Clinic is now better poised to prevent and treat waterborne, infectious diseases. Shining Hope sells clean water below the market price so no family is cutoff from access to clean water. In addition, the water tower profits will be used to help fund the Kibera School for Girls.

Shining Hope for Communities’ Clean Water Project unites the Kibera community in developing a sustainable model to ensure that this basic human right—access to clean water—is met. In collaboration with The Safe Water Network, Newman’s Own Foundation, Nairobi City Council and David Engineering Ltd., this truly is a community-based project. There’s an inextricable link between access to clean water and girls’ education. Shining Hope for Communities proves that by bringing water to a community, the ripple effects are tremendous!