The challenge
Many schools in Rwanda do not have enough water for their students.
Especially not during the drying time.
Rwanda is one of the countries in Africa that has experienced the greatest economic growth in recent years. Nevertheless, the country still has challenges when it comes to access to water. Just over 80% of the population lives in rural areas, where most of the schools do not have sufficient access to water. The problem, however, is not necessarily a lack of water, but rather a lack of good ways to collect, store and purify the water that rains during the rainy season.
The continent of Africa, despite its beauty and rich natural resources, still has too few safe water supplies. In sub-Saharan Africa, people travel 40 billion hours a year just to find safe drinking water.
Our initiative
Our partner in Rwanda has come up with a solution to their challenge with water, which is to store the water so that it can be used during the drying season. The problem is not the lack of water, it rains a lot during the rainy season, but rather to have the water stored for use in the drier months. The initiative our partner came up with was to build rain collection systems on the roofs of the local schools. This makes it possible to collect rainwater in an efficient way, and which also purifies the water so that it can be used for both hand washing, cooking and drinking.
Now the children can go to school both to get an education and clean water. This measure has proven to work so well that there is even enough water for the rivers to take water home to their families.
Water for Life
Water for Life is a voluntary aid organization established in Hawaii. Their main focus is to help communities develop safe and sustainable water sources, and also provide the knowledge needed to maintain them.
This project is presented by Pursuit of Water in collaboration with Water for Life, a registered US non-profit organization.