Success Stories
New Water Tanks Support
Bundibugyo is at the far end of a bumpy, mountainous 3-hour journey from Fort Portal, on the Congolese side of the Ruwenzori Mountains. Transportation is limited and the road is treacherous. None of that matters much to Sister Euphrasia, a busy nun that monitors the remote Busaru clinic that has no doctor but many patients.
Rainfall is precious but seasonal in Bundibugyo, so the clinic is able to collect water for only a few weeks here and there. During the off-rain months, patients and staff hike down the mountain and haul water back up. The constant worry and lack of clean water is a big problem for a health clinic with an endless supply of sick patients.
Relief arrived last month from the U.S. Mission’s Small Grants Office in the form of a new PEPFAR-funded 10,000 liter water tank installed outside the main ward. A full tank will supply the clinic for about a month before more rain is needed. For clinicians caring for patients, a steady supply of water means clean sheets, clean floors, drinking water and clean patients. Clean water is key to sanitation and infection control.
Several hours away by road, the Butiti clinic in St. Adolf village outside Fort Portal delivered 72 new babies in one month this fall. The sleepless nuns running the clinic delivered the babies while also treating a steady stream of patients with malaria and other illnesses. A new Small Grants Office PEPFAR-funded water tank is installed here, too, and will start collecting water with the next rain.
At this clinic and many like it in Uganda, patients or their caretakers prepare their own meals and wash their own linens. The closest water source to the rural clinic is several kilometers away, down a steep ravine. Without water, Sister Gertrude says people simply will not come for treatment since patients need water to prepare food, clean sheets and bathe. The new water tank is a welcome resource for the nuns and nurses that work tirelessly to deliver the best care possible. With clean water, more patients will now be reached.
This year, the US Missions’ Small Grants Office will buy a total of 13 water tanks for 13 clinics in the Fort Portal Diocese, alone. The story of relief is much the same in each village – the water tanks provide a reservoir of water in the most remote regions of the country, at the most needy health care centers with little maintenance costs. Water tanks are a sustainable solution to a recurring crisis for clean water.
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