WASH
Rivers State, Nigeria
The need
We have partnered with the Bebor Model Nursery and Primary Schools in Rivers State, Nigeria since 2002.
Our earliest efforts focused on getting children into proper classroom buildings. We soon realized that solving that problem created a new challenge: we had hundreds of kids going to schools that had no running water or sanitation. In 2009, we provided boreholes for safer and cleaner drinking water at our schools in Bane and Bodo. Our boreholes also provide water to public water taps located immediately outside the schools so local villagers can access the water free of charge and can do so without disrupting or disturbing the school. As gathering water in the rural Niger Delta is overwhelmingly considered "women's work," the public water taps are a gendered public health intervention that benefits women. We also provided a set of boys, girls and teachers' toilets at both of those schools. Improved water and sanitation are essential to our vision of promoting healthy futures for the children we serve and we have now successfully maintained water and sanitation facilities at these two schools for more than a decade.
In 2013, we were able to provide another borehole for safer and improved drinking water and a set of boys, girls, and teachers' toilets for our school in Bori. In 2015, we expanded our partnership to include St. Patrick's Nursery and Primary School, a local Catholic school also in Bodo. St. Patrick's already had its own borehole and toilets which were in place before we started supporting them.
Current Initiatives
More recently, we have started supporting two additional Catholic schools, St. Bernard's Nursery and Primary School in Biara and Our Lady's Nursery and Primary School in K-Dere. St. Bernard's has its own school buildings but does not yet have its own water and sanitation systems. Our Lady's is currently operating out of rented facilities which lack water and sanitation.
As such, we currently have water and sanitation facilities in place at four or the six schools we support. We hope to bring water and sanitation to St. Bernard's soon. Further down the road, we will bring water and sanitation to Our Lady's once the school has secured land for a permanent facility.