Kaazi is a rural village in Nazigo subcounty, Kayunga district. The village has a population of up to 1200 people, in about 98 households. The main economic activity in this community is subsistence farming; growing mainly Maize and pineapples.
Like many other rural communities in Uganda, access to safe water in this community is a challenge. There’s hardly any protected water source on the village. People depend on surface water sources like ponds or streams. If they have to access clean water, they will walk more than 5km to nearby boreholes.
To boost their garden yields, most farmers apply chemicals in their gardens. Unfortunately, these chemicals will always find their way to the unprotected surface water ponds. This is poses a very serious health challenge for the people.
It was 3pm when we visited this community water source. Crescent and his elder sister Josephine were supposed to be at school. They told us they decided to be absent from school that afternoon so as to be able to collect water for home use in time. Very understandabe. Unfortunately frequent absenteesm from school affects their perfomance and morale to remain in school. This is the same case for many other children in this community.