By Ben Musanje
Clean water is bringing new hope to the people of Amuru District in Northern Uganda’s Acholi Sub-Region, where disease rates have dropped and children are returning to school instead of dedicating much of their time walking long distances, to search for water.
At Pogo Health Center III in Ololo village, Ogwela Parish, Pogo Sub County, Kilak North in Amuru district, Acting In-Charge and Clinical Officer Anthony Akeng Komakech describes a painful past where the health facility and the community shared one borehole that frequently broke down.
When it failed, the nearest water source was 15 kilometers away. Mothers in maternity struggled, patients suffered, and even health workers had to leave their duties to fetch water.
Komakech says the new water project, put in place by the GoU through the Ministry of Water & Environment, has changed everything. Skin diseases, that once made up 30% of cases, have reduced to around 15%, and water-borne diseases have fallen from 15% to about 5%.
He says this is because the community now has clean, reliable water. “Water is life,” he explains, adding that access to water has made prevention possible and greatly reduced the number of people coming in with diarrhea and other hygiene-related illnesses.
At Pogo Okuture Primary School, the impact is most visible among children. The school now has 870 pupils, 401 girls and 469 boys many of whom used to miss class in order to create time to go look for water.
Deputy Head Teacher Giovanna Oryema Auma says that during the dry spell, boys would disappear from lessons to fetch water and return too tired to concentrate.
Girls struggled even more during their menstrual periods because they had no water to bathe and often stayed home. With clean running water now available within the school compound, teachers have water for drinking and cooking, girls can shower as many times as they desire and pupils no longer miss classes due to water shortages.
Head Teacher Alex Ogena, recently deployed to the school, remembers finding the situation terrible because there was no water at all. He says he came from a school where AMREF had extended a water tap, but what he found in Amuru shocked him.
The newly-installed water system by the Ministry of Water and Environment (MWE) has given the school a fresh start.
Sixteen-year-old Head Girl Mercy Lakot Oryema, confident and fluent in English, says the water project has helped pupils improve their hygiene and confidence.
She recalled visiting a school in Kampala where pupils showered using buckets and said she was not surprised because the project had prepared her.
Lakot asked the government of President Museveni to help build boys’ and girls’ dormitories so that candidates can stay at school and concentrate better, and she requested lighting to support Primary Seven pupils preparing for exams.
Her sincerity touched many visitors who had travelled to assess the impact of the MWE interventions in the sub region. Noel Muhangi, Senior Public Relations and Communications Officer at the Ministry of Water and Environment, pledged to pay her school surcharge next year, while several journalists promised to buy her shoes and other school necessities to help her succeed.
All these changes and improvements in community members’ quality of life are part of the broader national effort that continues to be implemented by the Ministry of Water and Environment through Nexus Green Limited as was directed by President Yoweri Museveni.
The project is part of the 450 solar-powered water supply and irrigation systems installed across Uganda with funding from the Governments of Uganda and its United Kingdom partners, through UK Export Finance at a cost of €111 million. The intervention begun in July 2021 and the entire project is scheduled for completion in December 2025.
Clean water has returned dignity and stability to communities in the Acholi Sub-Region. Children are back in class, disease levels have dropped, mothers can give birth safely and young leaders like Mercy Lakot are rising with confidence and hope. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
