Petta is a community in northeast Uganda.
Until 2022, Petta had no clean water.
Most people in Petta drew their water from contaminated ponds shared with snakes, frogs, cattle and goats.
Only 32% of households had latrines—98% of which were dilapidated and unsafe;
99% of households did not practice hand washing after relieving themselves;
60% of households reported high incidences of diarrhea and other water-related illnesses.
Together with the Petta community, WaterSchool’s donors changed this.
The water situation was so bad that Harriet’s family and her neighbours walked many kilometers to collect water. She sometimes left her breastfeeding baby at home and would return late at night from the long journey. Typhoid and diarrhea from the consumption of dirty water plagued her and her children, and they regularly sold food they would have eaten themselves to pay for hospital bills.
"When the borehole is built and water is close-by, our lives will be better," Agnes shared with us a few years ago. "Our children will be able to bathe daily and wash their school uniforms. They will be able to go to school because they are not sick. There will be more time to cook so children won't go hungry, and there will be more water to irrigate our vegetable gardens and give to our animals."
In the Spring of 2022, WaterSchool’s donors gave generously to build a new solar powered borehole to bring clean, safe water up to the surface in Petta.
We also ran our proven WAter, Sanitation and Hygiene (W.A.S.H.) training in Petta's homes, schools and churches to ensure lasting, positive change.
We knew that drilling a borehole and attaching a solar-powered pump to access this underground spring would transform life for the Petta communities because access to clean water changes everything.
Today, a solar-powered pump brings clean water to the surface of the earth and transports it uphill to a storage container. From there, using a gravity-flow system, the water is distributed through piping to the community’s seven tap-stands. Over 2,400 people in Petta now have access to clean, safe water.
With the generosity of the AWWOA community in 2024, our goal is to extend Petta’s distribution system 2.7km to reach three nearby communities.
Here’s what we can do together:
Extend Petta’s distribution system 2.7km to reach the communities of Mbula East, Mbula West and Komolo.
Reach 512 households - 2,560 people - with clean, safe water.
Extend the piping to reach the local primary school for the 1,016 students that attend there.
Host our W.A.S.H. trainings in all three communities to equip people with the knowledge and skills they need to make positive, lasting changes.
MATCH: Every dollar the AWWOA community gives by World Water Day on March 22nd will be matched instantly by the WaterSchool Board of Directors.
Your gift of $45
becomes $90
Will go towards purchasing materials like corrosion-resistant piping that will transport clean, safe water to the tapstands in these three new communities.
Your gift of $90
becomes $180
Will go towards hiring great engineers and civil workers to build this extension.
Your gift $350
becomes $700
Will go towards running our proven W.A.S.H. training in these three new communities to help create lasting change.