Katanga is a rural village located in Sheema district Uganda, Western Uganda. The village has a population of up to 2000 people and 160 households. There is one school in the village with an enrollment of 458 children.
Access to safe and clean water is a big challenge for the school and the community. There is hardly any protected water point. People walk into swamps to collect dirty water from surface ponds. To access clean water, they have to walk about 5km to a protected spring in the neighboring village.
Typhoid remains the major illness in homes because of the bad water people use. This illness keeps many children out of school, but also causes a huge financial burden on families.
Collecting water from surface ponds remains very dangerous, with a couple of children drowning in the process.
Following up on the request we received from the school, the village was assessed and prioritized as a beneficiary of the Community Funded Well Program.
Photos: School children walking back to school with containers of water. They miss on some lessons because they are out collecting water.
Some children can be seen here collecting water from a stream in Katanga village. Its dangerous for these little children, but its considered fine and normal in this community.
One of the surface ponds that the community currently uses as their source of clean water
Some children can be seen here collecting water from a stream in Katanga village. Its dangerous for these little children, but its considered fine and normal in this community.