Kitongozi Central is a sub village of Kitongozi Local council located in Kitwala parish, Kiryandongo sub-county, Kiryandongo district cut off from Masindi district with an estimated population of 200 people living in 40 households which comprise the catchment population of this central part of the village.
This village serves as a central business area for the local council, with small shops in an upcoming trading center where people from the whole village converge in the evening to enjoy the locally brewed alcohol. The small trading center of this village is surrounded by maize and cassava gardens in the east, and a big wetland in the west which provides water for consumption. Being the major source of water yet open, it is said to be the leading source of water borne related diseases among the water starved residents of this village.
Following the background I recorded the village Chairperson speech. Mr. Bitajune Patrick, a 42 year old resident said, “Our village suffered for decades by using dirty water and sometimes they could go seven (07) kilometers to the neighboring villages to get safe water. We thank The Clean Water Foundation and Mrs. Onenchan Jacqueline for linking with you. We thank Mr. Milton who came to confirm the place and came to do the community needs assessment. Thank you very much and we shall be glad to see you coming back with the drilling team. The CWF is a savior to our village Kitongozi.”
A few months later, CWF got the money and Safe Water (SW) Drilltech systems Uganda Limited carried out the drilling, design installation and well development between 22nd December 2019 and 11th January 2020. Test pumping and platform casting was done on 11th January 2020.
The Borehole was labelled by Mr. Clifford Steele as:
“The Leslie Well
Honoring the Memory of Leslie Shack A Friend of the People of Uganda 1954 – 2019”
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__________________________ Kitongozi Community
The goal of the project
The goal of the project was to provide and improve access to safe and adequate water, free of cholera and water‐borne diseases, to the local community of Kitongozi village.
Project impacts on the community
The project has just lasted 3 months at the time of this report however, the impacts can be forecast as below:
- There will be low health complications due to bad water.
- Increase food production as families will be be spending time doing farming activities with no water stress.
- The borehole supports at least 50% population around the area since the households are scattered.
- Time wasted to bring water from the next village about 7 km will be reduced leaving enough time for doing other developmental activities. Thewater committee and financial teams are working very well. At the time of this report they reported that money collected was UGX 280,000 within 2 months. Unfortunately, in the third month, the borehole broke. The repaired it successfully by replacing one pipe which was purchased for UGX 150,000. The current balance is UGX 130,000. They are determined to do well like other places. The committee is consisting of both men and women with a total number of 18 members. 13 on the water committee and 5 HPMs.
