At St. Bakhita Primary School, Nairobi, Kenya

Water is a very precious commodity in Kenya. When it is there, it is regarded as a great blessing, but unfortunately it is not always there. Nairobi has only two rainy seasons in the year, March/April and October/November. Every drop of water is valued.

St. Bakhita Primary School

However, St. Bakhita Primary School, one of the Mukuru slum schools under the sponsorship of the Sisters of Mercy Kenya, through Mukuru Promotion Centre slum project has a huge water problem.

The school has an average enrolment of 1,060 pupils but is without a reliable water supply. A permanent spacious school was built by a Chinese Co. in 2016/17 having been funded by a partnership between the Kenya and German Governments.

A large water storage tank was built to supply water to the school and to the other facilities on the compound, but due to the inferior underground water pipes installed to bring the water from the tank to the school the pipes are breaking or disconnecting so the school is now without water. The rainwater storage tanks which the school has been using, have also gone dry and there will be no rain again until October/November.

Water Storage Tank at the school

Water for toilets and handwashing during COVID-19, is just not there. To rectify the matter it is proposed that over ground water pipes be installed at a cost of approximately Ksh. 400,000/-, Euro 3,500, Which the school, being a slum school doesn’t have.

Parents in the slums live from hand to mouth doing casual work such as mothers washing clothes and fathers doing a day’s work, when they can get it, in nearby factories. Even that is a problem due to COVID-19 when many casual workers were laid off. This water problem is only one, but the most urgent challenge facing the school.

Water is life here in Kenya, take care of it; it is not easy to live without it!

Patricia Moran rsm
Kenyan Province