Kyaruhanga is a rural community in Ntungamo district, Western Uganda, towards the border with Rwanda. The village has approximately 170 households ( 2000 people) and the majority are subsistence farmers, mainly growing green banana ( locally known as matooke).
This village has no source of clean water. People use dirty water from open, surface ponds which are shared with animals, especially cattle. The ponds are deep, slippery and very risky, and every year some children drown and die in these ponds. Children are often absent from school because of water related illness and families are spending too much money on medical bills.
A church leader in this region learned about the community funded well program and he introduced it to this community. A borehole was drilled earlier this year at the church premises to provide clean water to an orphanage and school. However, the neighboring communities including Kyaruhanga, also continue to use that borehole and it’s getting over used and a source of conflict..
The church leader organized the villagers of Kyaruhanga to collect a down payment and fund their own borehole. A site has been identified and work is set to start.