education
When access to a clean water source is unavailable, children often miss out on education. They either spend their time travelling to collect water from unprotected sources from rather than being in school, or they are forced to stay at home to care for siblings or carry out domestic chores whilst their mothers are out of the home collecting the water.
Freedom to learn, Ilene Jongure
“We were not able to send our children to school but now we can.”
“We were starving because we had no way to grow vegetables or any way to pay for school fees” remembers Ilene Jongure, 41. Her daughter and two sons, aged 24 and 19, had all been to primary school, but her children’s education stopped there. Ilene’s 14-year-old daughter was not in school as Ilene could not afford the secondary school fees.
However, in 2008, Pump Aid joined forces with international charity CARE on a pioneering project aimed at transforming the lives of local women and their families by creating a communal garden. Pump Aid installed two water points within the garden, enabling the gardeners to easily water their crops. The garden was split among 37 families and they are now growing tomatoes, maize, butternut squash and spinach.
The garden has now been running for over two years and Ilene estimates that so far each family has made around $75 a year. Thanks to the garden, Ilene’s youngest daughter is now at secondary school. Ilene said “I am so proud of her, she is a very clever girl and she wants to be a nurse. I am so pleased that now I can buy her uniform and books and give her that chance.”
