Water is Life… Help us capture rainwater AND keep our hands CLEAN!

UPDATE! We've raised funds for the SECOND RAINWATER TANK! Just a bit more left to raise for 10 handwashing stations (1,100 USD) and repair an existing tank (300 USD).

Naivasha Highway Primary School has no running water and there are no sinks at the school. Staff and students rely completely on the rainwater for a healthier water supply. When it runs out, they have to use water from a nearby bore hole which has a very high fluoride level.

Why is this bad? Despite the fact that the source of water is from a fresh water lake (Lake Naivasha), fluoride is added because the water quality in the Rift Valley is not great. The flouride has negatively impacted the pupils health, in most cases causing weak bone structure and brown coated teeth (teeth discoloration). Over time, drinking water with a high flouride level causes dental fluorosis, a condition that weakens bones and teeth, and turns the color of teeth from white to brownish. It also diminishes the students confidence - they do not like to smile due to the color change in their teeth. Thankfully, dental florosis can be prevented by providing a clean water source such as rainwater to the school.

In Elizabeth's words: "Water is life and life is water! Can’t live without it. When one has basics it enables us to live and be hopeful for better things in life and it’s the small things we do in life that leads us to leave a mark not just a mark but a positive mark. Together we will stand and empower Highway Primary to get more rain water."

Thanks to our lovely donors, this project has greatly expanded the primary water source for the school. We've gotten gutters installed on the school rooftop and purchased two rainwater tanks plus more (see full story below)! We would absolutely be thrilled to receive donations to repair the third rain tank and add handwashing stations! Together we've accomplished so much!

Any help toward this project would be so appreciated! Your kind donations will help a school of around 860 bright students (from nursery to years 1-8) plus all the wonderful staff, have a clean source of water from the sky! Many thanks from all of us for your care.

--Paige, Liz and James

Here's our story:

Elizabeth Wanjiru (Liz Shish), James Kagwe and I, Paige Tantillo, are Permaculture designers and educators. We have been working as a team since late 2018 to establish a permaculture garden program at Naivasha Highway Primary School in Naivasha, Kenya. James, Elizabeth, and the team are providing weekly garden lessons to over 50 students through their Leafy Lit Permagarden program. This program commenced in January 2019 and has been enthusiastically adopted since the onset. Through our past fundraising efforts, the school was able to build protective fenced in areas and created:

• Two double dug garden beds (226 feet in total) with a combination of fruit trees and vegetables
• Two greywater areas:
  
  • one with banana trees and veggies
  • another that will be a food forest (the kids are currently designing)
• A mandala garden with lovely flowers
• A 3-part compost bin system

The staff and students are very involved and absolutely thrilled to be planting their own food and learning about permaculture, water saving techniques and more!

Our next project phase focused on building more rainwater storage capacity. There are 860 students that use the rainwater for their daily needs. The school had two existing rainwater tanks, but they were not sufficient enough to provide water for the school year round. Thankfully, the school has a HUGE roof that is perfect for rainwater catchment and an existing foundation capable of supporting two large tanks that would sequester an additional 20,000 liters of rainwater each rainfall! We stepped in to help them raise funds for the 2 tanks and new guttering to properly fill the new tanks. Over the last few years (Covid got in the way a bit), we were able to raise all of the funds needed for the guttering and new tanks!

Please take a look through the photos to see our journey through the past years!