More than 200 schools from three constituencies in Murang’a will benefit from water storage facilities built by an American NGO.
The Can Do Kids NGO plans to build 300,000 litres water tanks in schools to improve their hygiene and ensure they concentrate on education.
Karanja Mburu Wamatangi, the NGO’s country coordinator, said 19 similar tanks have been constructed in schools for Sh1.2 million each.
Speaking during the groundbreaking ceremony for a tank at Gitui Primary School in Kiharu constituency on Friday, Karanja said his organisation’s vision is to help solve water problems in schools.
He said the tanks harvest rainwater and help facilitate feeding programmes and cleaning.
“We have recently done groundbreaking work for tanks in four other primary schools, and they are all expected to be complete in less than 100 days at a cost of Sh6 million,” he said.
The NGO is a Christian-based organisation that originally taught children the Bible in the US. It has been funding community projects, including equipping polytechnics and supporting children's homes.
Wamatangi urged leaders to work together to develop their areas. He also urged leaders to explain the projects by the national government to residents.
This will ensure people stop feeling as if the government has abandoned them when they fail to see the President, yet there are many projects being undertaken by the national government, he said.
“We have three years to work together before the next election, so let’s keep politics at bay and concentrate on working for the people,” Wamatangi said.\
He was recently appointed to the board of the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia-Transport (Lapsset) Corridor development authority.
In March, members of the NGO that is based in Illinois, United States, visited Marewa Primary School, where they constructed a tank and renovated the school for Sh3.2 million.
Gitui Primary School headteacher Godfrey Gicheha praised the NGO for constructing the mega tank, saying pupils have been suffering as they were forced to trek one kilometre to fetch water from a river.
"We will now have clean water and the time that was consumed as pupils went to the river will now go to learning,” he said.
The pupils, he said, also had to carry their own drinking water from their homes and sometimes went thirsty.
(Edited by A. Ndungu)
