Background

Pure Water Project Uganda 2012 – 2018

Posted by Paul Lightfoot

www.purewaterprojectuganda.co.uk

What started out as two people on a single trip to put a water supply into an orphanage near Kampala, Uganda in 2012, with £3K raised from donations, has expanded exponentially. Having completed many projects across the country over the last six years, we are excited to tell you about the venture we will be embarking on this year.

The area in the north of Uganda is a difficult place to live. Under the control of Joseph Kony and LRA for 20 years up to 2011, it is now overrun by several hundred thousand refugees fleeing the civil war in South Sudan. Coupled with a recent crop failure the local population the Madi Tribe have tough lives, with the majority forced to live hand to mouth on a daily basis. The average wage is less than a dollar a day and the locals live under the threat of a return by the LRA. Elements of Al Shabab and Boko Haram also operate close to the border with Kenya. Our projects aim to improve the daily lives of the children and families who live there.

The most ambitious project we have completed for the northern community was in 2015, building a school in Dzaipi on the Sudan border in 13 days from the ground up. Other projects we have completed over the last six years at 4 locations include; building a new boys dorm, building a new kitchen, refurbishing a girls dorm and connecting 2 kilometres of water pipe, which pumps from a well into our school in Dzaipi. The expansion of the project was unexpected but the success has been evident.

This year, we have recruited three more volunteers to join us on our projects this March in three schools. Alongside the facilities that we provide and maintain, we are also sponsoring three orphans through secondary school and hopefully onto university. Our two main sponsors are The Bunker and Brookland Primary School in Kent with whom we have also twinned two of the schools (Dzaipi and Kitezee).

The 2018 trip has several projects which will be spread between the five of us, with 4 weeks in total on the ground:

  1. New pit latrine facility and playground at Mount Zion Brookland Kitezee (Near Kampala).
  2. Re-usable Sanitary Towel kits for girls at St Peters School in Adjumani (Shockingly, some girls currently miss one week in four of their schooling totalling 360 schooling weeks per year).
  3. Maintenance visit to Mount Zion School Dzaipi.
  4. School Fees for Moses and Rachide who are attending Stafford High School Kitezee and enrolment for Wilbrod into Makarere University in Kampala to study Accountancy.

As with all of our trips, the funds we raise go directly into the projects, to buy materials and pay local workers. Our philosophy is simple; we pay for our own flights, food and accommodation and unlike many other charities our operating costs are zero. We are looking forward to this year’s trip and we will provide a full update on our return.

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/may/01/end-joseph-kony-hunt-fears-lords-resistance-army-return