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Grace Nakato, 13, stays with her family in Nakaziba, a remote village in Mityana district, that for all the past years was without a nearby water source, or worse no reliable clean water source. Along with her 5 other siblings, Grace always started her days early. The young children would get up in the cold wee hours of every morning, to walk for about 4km to a stream, for water, that was to be used at home during the day. This was an obligation that they had to fulfill every day before heading to school. Grace and her siblings study at St. Jude Nakaziba Primary School, the main education center in the community. "I fetched water twice each day; in the morning before school and also in the evening when we returned home, but I hated walking such long distances, for dirty water," recalled Grace.
Just like Grace, most of the children and women in the community had to make the tedious journies, more than once in a day, to the stream in the next village, for water. Goats, cattle, and other wild creatures all drank from the same un protected water source, a situation that made the locals prone to typhoid and related water borne diseases. The stream was the only water source that the communities around it relied on.
However, Grace and the rest of the community currently have a new water point in close proximity. Life is positively changing for the residents of Nakaziba ever since a new well was drilled in the vulnerable village; well #699 which was recently drilled by Wells of Life, in loving memory of DONNA WEILER, (USA), today provides clean and safe water to the 286 school children of St. Jude Nakaziba Primary School and the 70 households in the community, including Grace’s family.
Today, Grace and her siblings no longer spend their precious school time away, while fetching dirty stream water. They are able to go to school on time and even play with their friends after classes, without worrying about long treks for stream water. "Fetching clean water from the new well is now boosting my studies,” happily shared Grace. "In the past, I would arrive late at school when my classmates had already started lessons, and I was punished on several occasions for late coming”, she added. “Am so happy this is no longer the case; I nowadays get to be the first person to sit in class for lessons. I love mathematics most and I hope I can be a pilot someday after school.” shared the hard-working young girl.
“I can assure you that even, as teachers, our families went through the same water ordeals to get water”, also shared Samuel Kanyena, 44, a teacher at St. Jude Nakaziba Primary School. “Am so delighted that today we have easy access to safe and clean water, because Wells of Life ran to our rescue”. Concluded the father of 5.
