From Thirst to Triumph: How One Village Elder Sparked a Water Revolution in Kumi

By Ben Musanje

Kumi District in North Eastern Uganda has long struggled to find clean water. Families own large pieces of land, yet boreholes are few and often far away.

Even worse, many people fear giving land for water projects, thinking the government might take it away. But one man changed everything.

Mzee Charles Erungoret, an elder from Oderekai Village in Kakures Sub County, didn’t hesitate when he heard about a government plan to install a solar-powered water system.

Instead of blocking the project, he sat down with his family and offered his land in writing a bold move that shocked many in the community.

This project is part of President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni’s directive to expand solar-powered water supply, funded by both the Governments of Uganda and the United Kingdom and carried out by Nexus Green Limited.

The €111 million project includes over 450 solar-powered water and irrigation systems, slowly transforming the driest parts of Uganda.

During a field visit by the Ministry of Water and Environment (MWE) officials, Mzee Erungoret shared why he made his decision.

He had watched his wife, daughters, and other women walk 2 kilometers every day carrying heavy pots, some with babies on their backs, just to find water.

This daily struggle even caused domestic violence, as some men believed their wives were meeting other men on the way to the borehole.

Today, the story is completely different. What started as a dream is now reality. Thanks to the solar-powered system on his land, 62 households now enjoy clean, safe water.

Mzee Erungoret proudly says that none of his children will ever fight the government over that land, because they have seen how the whole community benefits.

Leah Acipa, the Chairperson of Oderekai Village, Kakures Sub County in Kumi district, remembers the dark days too.

She recalls when villagers drank swamp water shared with cows and goats, causing outbreaks of diarrhea, cholera, and other waterborne diseases.

She herself suffered domestic violence after returning home late from searching for water.

But everything changed after the solar-powered water project arrived.

Hygiene improved, families are healthier, and even men who had “forgotten how to bathe” now shower proudly before leaving home.

Everest Maraka Okubal, the LCIII Chairperson of Kakures Sub County, says the sub-county had only 15 boreholes, three broken and one borehole sometimes served over 200 people.

Now, with this national project, the government aims to deliver clean and safe water to over 2.5 million people in rural and peri-urban communities.

A single act of generosity by an elder has helped spark hope, restore peace in homes, and bring dignity back to a community that was once forgotten. Kumi has tasted clean water and life will never be the same. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).