Meet Sikitu Joseph (left, in yellow), Farmer Field School (FFS) Facilitator and member of Haruzale Water Committee, the body responsible for managing and maintaining Haruzale's Community Borehole (deep well) established by CPAR last November. We visited Haruzale last week and talked to Sikitu about the impact the borehole has had on her day-to-day life.
Sikitu used to walk 5 km to Lake Victoria twice a day -- at 6:00 a.m. and again after lunch -- to fetch a bucket of green, slimy, contaminated lake water for her family's needs. Each trip would take from 2 to 3 hours. Sometimes she would go by bike and carry 2 buckets at a time.
Now with the borehole nearby, Sikitu spends more time focusing on her farm and conducting small business activities to generate cash -- she sells mandazis (donuts) and eggs and uses the money for her kids' school needs and household items like kerosene and cooking oil. But the big thing for Sikitu is her time and effort saved -- spending hours every day carrying heavy loads of muddy water is unpleasant and exhausting.
Crucial to the long life and success of the borehole is the management style of the water committee -- 3 women and 3 men selected by the village government. In Haruzale, each of the 200 households served by the borehole contributed about 70 cents towards opening a bank account for the borehole. Now each household is required to pay the equivalent of 35 cents every month. This money is deposited in the borehole bank account and will be used to service and, when necessary, repair the borehole and the pump. Each household is also required to contribute about 15 cents every month to pay for the security guard appointed by the water committee to watch over the borehole. To save wear and tear on the pump, the operating hours are from 7am to 12 noon, and again from 2pm to 6pm daily. The security guard makes sure the timetable is followed. Sikitu and the other water committee members are confident that their borehole is going to be in operation for a very long time.
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