KIRIRA VILLAGE, UGANDA

FUNDED DECEMBER 21, 2022

This well project here will be completed with funds previously allocated for the Rwenzori Village in Uganda. The funds reallocation was needed when we discovered that another charitable organization had begun drilling there. 

Kirira Village is located in the Karuuko Parish, in the Nalweyo Sub County and Kakimiro District of Uganda.  The village comprises 380 households, about 2,280 people.  There is single clean water source in a nearby village. However 10 local villages all use the older borehole, and there is more demand than supply. So most of the Kirira villagers use the water found in the local swamp and ponds. Because of this there has been a typhoid outbreak that has been impacting the children. Parents are having to sacrifice their children’s tuition for life saving medicine, which means that the children who have gotten sick are now done with their education, likely for the rest of their lives.

This youngster is preparing to get water from a hand-dug ground hole.

The child must lean far over the deep pool’s edge to fill the can.

Herbert Asiimwe oversees project management in Uganda, and has a decade of experience in the area. He is particularly skilled at choosing and working with the schools, churches, clinics, and villages that ultimately get the wells. He can choose locations where the well will be cared for long-term, ensuring clean water for years to come. The drilling teams report directly to Herbert, and Herbert reports directly to our board of directors here in the US. He adheres to very strict accounting procedures, and Kate does the accounting and reporting on the US side. CEED has developed over 600 clean water sources and served over 750,000 people in the area.

Each project is directly funded. We only bring in outside funding sources in the case of a dry well, or for a larger project that we know going in will require more heavy-duty equipment. This well will require neither, as we know that the water table in the area is good.

The funding for future repairs and maintenance is a two-part process. When the village is chosen for a well, they sign a contract stating that they will do their best to set aside a few pennies per month to help cover the cost of future repairs. They can do this by selling surplus water to local farmers, or by having a collection.

This method acts as a guarantee that the village will take ownership of the well. When something is wrong, they have the responsibility to reach out and let us know so the wells can be repaired in a timely manner.

The women in the village share the youngster’s difficulty and danger of gathering this polluted water.

In 2020 CEED took the opportunity to do a survey of 20 villages that have access to one of our wells. On average each village experienced a 70% reduction in illness across the board. Typhoid, Cholera, parasites, and water born illnesses dropped significantly. We do understand that there are, of course, other factors that play a part in community health, but it all must start with access to clean water.
A new well will end the current typhoid outbreak.

We always use our drilling opportunities as a disciple making outreach. We try to dig our wells near churches or schools if possible. We also use the drilling itself as an outreach. One of our donors many years ago donated a solar powered projection system.  During the drilling people come from miles around to watch the drilling while it is happening. While that is going on, the projection system is being charged. Then at night we set up the projector and play “The Jesus Film,” a film about Jesus’s life, ministry, death and resurrection, in the local dialect of the area where the well is being drilled. When the well is completed, we add a plaque with the donor’s names and usually a verse telling the village why the water was gifted to them. The dedications are done by the local ministers of the church, turning even that event into a praise meeting.

COMPLETED JULY 25, 2023

The well at Kirira Village is complete! The commissioning ceremony was held on July 25, and the people are enjoying clean, fresh water near their homes.  Below are some photos from the celebration that day.

This video from the commissioning ceremony is Kirira’s way to show gratitude and to make requests for more needs to be met in the future in the same speech. It can be a little jarring to our sensibilities, but it does not diminish their gratitude in the least. And we will likely be coming back to the area to drill again with donor funds in the future due to the fact that this is one of a cluster of villages with fairly high populations. But yours is the first well in the area!