Ekenywa improving sanitation in Nakuru public schools

Piave Primary School pupils washing their hands at the institution. PHOTO | FRANCIS MUREITHI | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • They have started a project that seeks to improve sanitation among pupils in public schools in remote parts of Nakuru County.  

  • Ms Gasperi says that unsafe drinking water poses a great health risk in Nakuru County.

  • Purified water goes for Sh20 per 20-litre container and while untreated water is sold at Sh5.

Two young women are on a mission to eradicate waterborne diseases and improve sanitation in public schools.

Ashley Gasperi and Elsie Mbugua who met at the Rift Valley Academy in Kijabe 20 years ago, have started a project that seeks to improve sanitation in public schools in remote parts of Nakuru County.

“During this year’s World Water Day celebrations at Njoro, I realised that what we started as a simple project to provide 400 school-going children with clean water, is now serving more than 10,000 residents,” said Ms Mbugua, 34.

DRINKING WATER

They have launched water investment projects at Piave and Kaiyaba primary schools to make clean drinking water accessible to pupils and neighbouring communities.

At Kaiyaba, they have put up a bio-digester which is currently produces methane gas.

“The gas is utilised in the school kitchen and reduces the use of firewood. It preserves the environment,” said Ms Gasperi an American citizen.  

Working with Egerton University Rotaractors, they have helped Piave Primary School start solar powered drip irrigation project in the school farm where pupils grow vegetables and tomatoes.

“Piave is one of the arid parts of Njoro but with this technology, the pupils can now plant their own crops even during dry seasons,” said Ms Gasperi.

“Our mission is to inspire the community to be self-reliant and already one of the schools is generating about Sh100,000 annually by selling vegetables,” said Ms Mbugua adding that parents have embraced the project.  

DIG TRENCHES

“Parents who are not able to contribute some little money for maintenance of the project work on the school farm or dig trenches for the piping and this makes them to be proud owners of the project,” said Ms Mbugua.

The teachers in the two schools have trained the pupils on the importance of hygiene. Hand washing at stations are strategically installed near the toilets.

“The community has been sensitised on the effects of fluoride and the technology at the water point,” stated Ms Ashley.

“Seeing school children scoop unsafe drinking water from River Ndarugu made us wonder what little thing we could do to help and that is how we started the project,” said Ms Mbugua.

Ms Gasperi says that unsafe drinking water poses a great health risk in Nakuru County.

“Many children die every day and others suffer from water borne diseases due to lack of safe drinking water,” says Ms Gasperi.

The two women believe they do not need to depend on donors to help their fellow citizens.

CORRUPTION

“We don’t need foreign aid to run out projects. What discourages local philanthropists is mistrust, greed, failed projects, misuse of funds and corruption among others,” said Ms Mbugua.

Their women’s desire to improve the lives of others people started while they were in Grade 9 (equivalent of Form One) in 1999.

 “We used to volunteer every Sunday to help doctors and nurses at Kijabe Mission Hospital to dress wounds and take care of patients,” said Ms Gasperi, 33.

Ms Gasperi, is a trained nurse from Immaculata University in the United States of America. She holds a bachelor’s degree in science and has a masters’ degree in Community Systems Administration from Thomas Jefferson University.

Ekenywa co-founders Elsie Mbugua (left) and Ashley Gasperi inspect the drilling of a borehole at Piave Primary School in Njoro, Nakuru County. PHOTO | FRANCIS MUREITHI | NATION MEDIA GROUP

Ms Mbugua is a consultant in the energy sector. She previously worked at Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan bank in US as a physical energy trader.

She holds degrees on in Economics and International Relations from Tufts University and Biology from Harvard University both in US.

Their projects undertaken under the umbrella of Ekenywa is solving water crisis besides addressing other related water challenges.

“We leverage on technology by starting with sustainable water source, filtration and distribution,” explains Ms Gasperi.

SH5 MILLION

She says before the drilling of the Sh5 million borehole started, they conducted public participation to bring on board all the beneficiaries.

At the Piave borehole which has a capacity to produce 12,000 litres of water per hour, Ms Ashley says they have installed an ultra-modern filtration machine.

“Ground water contains heavy minerals such as fluoride that requires filtration, we have installed hydroxyapatite machine that removes fluoride,” she adds.

Ms Gasperi says fluoride can cause tooth decay, affect the bones and can even cause death.

“The project has greatly improved self-esteem amongst the pupils as they can afford to smile openly,” said Ms Gasperi.

The modern water kiosk distributes the commodity to the community through prepaid meters. Purified water goes for Sh20 per 20-litre container and while untreated water is sold at Sh5. 

The technology has cut cost of operation since it is digitised and does not require a kiosk operator. The project has impacted positively on the lives of pupils.

DISEASES

“The pupils longer waste productive learning hours walking long distance to fetch water, cases of waterborne diseases are rare,” said Mr Joseph Rono, the head teacher at Piave Primary School.

Mr Rono said the school has 20 toilets and 10 hand washing stations.  

He said after washing their hands, the used water is collected in a 6,000 reservoir before it is pumped to school farm where it is used for drip irrigation.

Mr Rono noted that since the project started two years ago the enrolment has increased and the school population has increased from 482 to 518.  

“Parents have realised that their children will drink clean water and this has drastically reduced their burden on medical coast,” said Mr Rono.

The school performance is also steadily rising as pupils are now able to learn practical agriculture lessons from the school farm. The school’s mean score in the Kenya Certificate of Primary Examination rose from 193 in 2017 to 194 last year.

 “When we teach them good agriculture practices we do it practically at the farm,” said the teacher.

The school also harvests rain water which is sieved before it is stored in a 40,000 litre tank. Area residents have benefited greatly from the project.

“I used to spend at least Sh1,500 buying drugs to treat my daughter after drinking unsafe water but today, I am not worried about waterborne diseases anymore,” said Ms Sally Barsigei.

INCREASED YIELDS

A vegetable farmer in the region Mr John Moseti says the water projects has increased his yields by at least 35 per cent.

“During drought, I buy water from the borehole which I use to irrigate my vegetables,” said Mr Moseti.

But how does the technology work?

An app was developed which the consumers download in their phones to enable seamless credit top up and collection of water at the kiosk.

“The community top up credit to their accounts through mobile money cash transfer M-Pesa and redeem credits through special cards,” explains Ms Gasperi who is also the director of operations at Ekenywa.

To improve customer service, Ms Ashley says consumer data is collected on a daily basis to monitor consumption patterns.

“This data helps us make informed decision including routine maintenance,” she added.

She said the data could be shared with policy makers in the health sector and other interested stakeholders wishing to improve the welfare of the citizens. 

The World Health Organisation estimates that at least 1,000 children worldwide die because from waterborne diseases, while at least 2 billion people globally use contaminated drinking water.  

Piave Primary School pupils in Nakuru County drawing water from an underground water tank. PHOTO | FRANCIS MUREITHI | NATION MEDIA GROUP

Raising the seed capital for the project was not a walk in the park.  

“We didn’t have enough capital to launch the project and I had to convince my husband Chris Gasperi to allow me to resign as a nurse and instructor and sell our house in US to raise money to launch the project and I am happy he supported my idea,” said Ms Gasperi.

Ms Mbugua, who is the president of Ekenywa and finance director said that she used skills gained while working at JP Morgan Bank in the US to raise funds locally and abroad for the project.