Waswa and Kato are 11-year-old twins living in Magungu Village. The have the responsibility to collect water for their family. The journey to the well is a long one, 3km (1.86 miles) through a thick bush. They are always scared while taking this journey. They talk about meeting snakes and scary monkeys. These twins only attend school a few days a week because the activity to collect water is already tiring enough and they can’t then walk to school.
Magungu is a rural village in Kituntu subcounty, Mpigi district. The village has a population of up to 1000 people, in about 130 households. The main economic activity in this community is subsistence farming, growing mainly cassava and sweet potatoes.
Like many other rural communities in Uganda access to safe water in this community is a challenge. There’s hardly any protected water source near the village. People depend on surface water sources like ponds or streams which they share with animals. If they have to access to clean water, they will walk more than 5km to nearby boreholes.
To boost their garden yields, most farmers apply chemicals to their gardens. Unfortunately, these chemicals will always find their way to the unprotected surface water ponds. This poses a very serious health challenge for the people.
There is only 1 community school in this village. Many children, especially girls, drop out at an early age because of water challenges.