Mrs. Rebecca Musoke, a 35 year old woman lives in Bulonda village, Nakyerongosa parish had a long discussion with COMASA’s water and sanitation staff and had all the reasons to celebrate six months after the implementation of this project. She has four children and has been living in Bulonda village all her life and has been drawing water from Nababirye pond.

We had got used to the water from this pond, although the water was always dirty along with some “small insects’ that were drawn along with this water in the containers. On many occasions, my children would wait for the water to settle such that it is not very dirty and start drinking especially during the hot sunny day. However, during the night I would not sleep the whole night because hour after hour my children would complain of stomach. I would wake up my husband every night to attend to our children, and sometimes he would refuse saying, ‘I am fed up of this village which is full of witch doctors, who are bewitching children. Every child in our village has stomach pains, skin rashes and itching skin. What should we do?’ my husband would ask.

Our children would miss school because they were always sick and the teachers would send them back home for treatment. This was almost the same story in every home, and the available little money was being spent on drugs and yet our children would not be completely cured. Sometimes we would not afford to pay for treatment.
Our children missed most of the classes in the term and would always perform poorly in classes, yet we were becoming poorer and poorer because we were spending money and time on treatment and caring for our children. It was not until recently when the project came to Nakyerongosa parish, and attended the training that we were able to realize that it was not bewitchment but a very common problem caused by using and drinking unsafe and dirty water. I got involved in this project and actively participated and I was a good messenger to the people in our village. I persuaded the community to mobilize local materials and participate in the construction of our water source and we finally got Walukaga hand dug well which is a safe water source.

In only a few months our children had improved skin, stomach pains disappeared completely and they started attending classes regularly. We no longer spent money and time caring and using drugs and we have joy in our family and we now have hope that our children will be healthier for the time to come.

I was selected by my village to be on the community monitoring team to promote good hygiene/sanitation practices and I have done this work so diligently because I know very well what it means to live in a dirty environment. I greatly appreciate COMASA and the project in Bulonda village.
I do thank COMASA for the difference that it is making and look forward to more support from people all over the world. Do come and assist us as we strive to get more wells for the villages in Nakyerongosa parish.

So far, six (6) hand dug wells have been constructed and we hope to construct nine (9) hand dug wells and are seeking for funding. We are very grateful to Nabuur for the platform that it has provided to us to be able to tell the world about Nakyerongosa.