Kiremezi is a rural and remote village in the Kayunga District, Uganda. The village has a population of approximately 1,200 people in 150 households.The majority of the people in the village are peasants who engage in subsistence farming, growing mainly pineapples, maize, sweet potatoes and casava.
Access to clean and safe water is one of the major challenges of this community. There is no protected water source. All the people collect water from surface ponds which are far from homes and very polluted. The pineapple and maize growers occasionally apply pesticides and inorganic fertilizers to improve their yields. However this practice is a big health risk since these chemicals end up contaminating the surface water that the community uses
With one school in the village, children are always moving into the swamps to collect water that is needed at school and in their homes. Many children, especially girls, have dropped out of school because of the hectic labor associated with the collection of water.
Denis lives with his grandparents and other younger siblings. Because he is older, he takes the responsibilty of collecting water. He is worried about his perfomance in the final exams since he is always late for school because he has to walk a long distance to collect water. (picture is shown)
Agnes should be in primary school, however she dropped out a year ago because she could not manage walking to collect water and at the same time walking to school. (picture is shown)