Kristen's 2013 Visit
Having the chance to visit Sere Olipi Primary School and the well we drilled there was wonderful. There are 460 primary school students at the school, 225 of whom are boarders and an additional 700 preschoolers. The campus is lovely with children everywhere. Thanks to SENET, a local organization, the school has had many improvements in recent years. The biggest improvement of all, however, is the well The Samburu Project drilled in 2011.
Prior to The Samburu Project drilling a well at Sere Olipi Primary School students, faculty and administrators walked 5 kms to a nearby dam. The dam was heavily contaminated and salty. In 2009, there was a cholera outbreak due to the dam water. Additionally diarrhea was pervasive with the school children when they were taking water from the dam.
The student population has grown by about 100 since the well was drilled. The students daily lives have improved significantly because they do not have to collect water daily from the dam. They simply walk to the nearby well for water. All students at the school participate in the collection of water. They rotate by class between collecting water and collecting firewood. The school has an agreement with the neighboring community. Between 3:10 pm when school is over for the day and 6 pm, people outside the school do not fetch water from the well so that the students can have easy access to the well.
When interviewing Obed Mwende who was in charge in the absence of the Head Teacher, he told Lucas and me that the well is pumping from 5 am - 10 pm every day!
At the well, I met Winnie who has been a teacher at the school for 5 years. She said the biggest issue at the school when she started was water. As a teacher, she too had to walk 5 kms to and from the dam and partake in the dirty water. Now that they have "mineral" water, Winnie's work has become much easier. She now has time to actually do her wash and her student love to assist her. They get to bond over this activity and she works hard to support the girls which encourages them to stay in school.
The well water is used for cooking, drinking and personal hygiene. The personal hygiene factor keeps girls in school.
The school next goal is to identify funding to pump the water up to the school. They have appealed to SENET and the local Catholic Mission. Currently the well is about 1 km from the school. They children now fill jerrycans, walk up the hill to the school with the water on their backs and dump the water into a tank within the school's gates.
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