Water for People: Your Impact on the Kaiho Community

Water poverty in Uganda has been an ongoing issue for decades. At Acts For Water, thanks to your generous support, we have been able to reach a large number of rural areas in Uganda, and provide them with safe water. 

Clean, accessible water means improved education, better health, gender equality, and food security. Water accessibility in Uganda is transforming lives! 

Here’s how our clean water program impacted the community living in the Kaiho region of Uganda. 

In September 2018, our team spent a week in Kintu, a recently completed project area, to see the change that clean water brought in its very first days. The clean water that you helped us bring through your relentless support put a smile on hundreds of faces as they watched the tap stand being turned on and flowing clean, fresh water for the very first time. 

Up until then, the Kaiho community’s main source of water was an open field near a banana plantation, filled with grazing cattle. The open water pocket was worse than one could imagine with a filthy, milky green hue to it, and cow patties scattered all around the area. Another source of water up the road from the plantation was no better than any streetside ditch in Canada. It was mucky and filled with garbage. 

When asked how they utilized the water, the people of Kaiho shared that they would distill the water and boil it to make it safer for consumption. But the process never really removed all the dirt or diseases contained within it. This was all the Kiaho village had leading up to September 2018.

When our team was setting up the tap stand, the Kaiho community volunteers joined in to help. It was a very exciting time for all of us. Michael, one of the volunteers, took swing after swing to break the ground for the water source with a hoe. Finally, after a number of tries, he relaxed his arms and widened his eyes. Bakora, the chairman of the Kiaho region tap stand, grinned and said, “water is coming!”

And clean water did come that day.

For the past 4 years, the community of Kaiho has been able to live with clean water continually running through a tap stand only steps away from their homes. 

This tap stand has allowed the community to see restoration in health from the prevention of waterborne disease and illness, as well as alleviating women of the inequity they have experienced as they are twice as likely to fetch water than men – giving them the opportunity to focus on school, work and their safety.

Clean water makes such a difference in people’s lives, as we saw in the Kaiho community. Everyone was so thankful; joyful even. 

Even today, we remember the look on Michael’s face as he stood there in his pressed pink shirt and black pants, taking in what had just happened. It was a big day for not only Michael but everyone in the Kaiho community as well. They finally received access to the clean water they had been dreaming of! Thank you for helping make that happen for them.

To continue putting smiles on the faces of Ugandan people, and provide them with the future and life they deserve, you can donate today. Join us in our mission to give the gift of water.