ST BAKHITA’S EBUSIRATSI GIRLS’ SECONDARY

SCHOOL CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF KAKAMEGA

P.O BOX 93, EMUHAYA

EMAIL: millhillschoolebusiratsi@yahoo.com

A REPORT ON THE BOREHOLE PROJECT

Introduction

St Bakhita’s girls is a secondary school in Vihiga County located in Emuhaya sub- county,

North Bunyore Location. Founded in 1974 as a mixed catholic day school under the Luanda

parish, it started with 15 students and 5 teachers who were all university students. The school has

grown steadily over the years and currently has a population of 390 students. It is being

transformed in to an all girls’ school. The last group of boys is sitting for their final national

exams this year. The school officially becomes a girls’ boarding school beginning January 2015.

Challenges

Despite the growth realized over the years, the school has faced a lot of challenges ranging from

poor water and sanitation facilities to inadequate infrastructural facilities. These have negatively

impacted on the teaching and learning process at the school. The most serious has been the

perennial water shortage in the school.

Through the PTA project, a few tanks were constructed in the late 90’s to harvest rain water and

alleviate the water problem, however due to the growing student population, they have not been

sufficient (the thanks get dry after a day or two). Efforts were made in 2007 by World Vision to

drill a borehole in the school without much success due to the lack of sufficient drilling

equipment’s. While the students have managed steady improvement in their academic

performance, the water shortage has continued to be a burden.

SOLUTION TO THE WATER PROBLEM

Father Innocent through the help of Fr. Bernard Phelan and other well-wishers, proposed the

construction of a borehole in the school to provide clean drinking water and improve sanitation

for the students, staff and local community. This borehole is hoped to reduce the amount of time

students spent going to the streams to fetch water and minimize water borne diseases as well as

other dangers students especially girls are be exposed to while out there.

After receiving funds, the school organized for a current Hydrogeological survey which was

done by Earth Scopes Geo Hydro Services at a cost of ksh. 40,000 and a report submitted to us.

The permit drill was also gotten as a fee of ksh 12,500.

Secondly, we identified a contractor to drill the borehole.

The first contractor was MR. PROTUS MACHEMBE of BRIGE WATER SERVICES through

competitive bidding. The scope of work was developed which included the following

Drilling of a borehole to a depth of 45 m, complete with permanent surface casings

24 hour test pumping to ensure availability of water

Installation of submersible pump capable of delivering 9 cubic liters per hour.

Install electrical supply and control panel plus accessories.

Piping and fittings to be installed for supply to utility points and existing water

infrastructure.

The ground was blessed by Fr, Innocent on 25th

Jan 2014.

This first attempt drilling was done by Mr. Protus Machembe in conjunction with Hydro Wells

Co.

Mr. Machembe was given a down payment of ksh. 300,000 to purchase the initial accessories

required for the drilling work. This was 70% of the total amount agreed on for the initial work of

just drilling without the pump and tower.

He later disagreed with the Hydro Wells team who claimed he had not sorted an earlier debt with

them and that unless he clears they were not going to do the work at our site. The school

management came in to prevail upon the company not to leave without doing the work because

already they had been paid mobilization fee and purchased some requirements. Hydro Wells

agreed on condition that we enter another contract with them to be attached to that entered with

Protus. We accepted and signed another contract with them. Protus was able to account for only

ksh 200,000 that was spent on purchase of materials. Ksh.100,000 was not accounted for our

work because although Protus claimed he had given the money to Hydro Wells for St. Bakhita,

the latter put it toward offsetting what Protus owed them from a previous project. Mr Elvis

Kipgoskei was given ksh 60,000 to move on with the work as we try to reconcile them ie Bridge

way waters and Hydro well.

Protus was therefore asked to refund the school ksh 100,000 and the school to pay Hydro Wells

directly for the drilling work at an greed cost of ksh 270,000 .

A down payment of ksh. 100,000 was paid to Mr. Elvis Kipgoskei Tuwei of ID NO. 27455972

of Hydro Wells to begin the work. He was later added ksh 60,000 for fuel, making a grand total

of ksh 160,000 for the whole work. Unfortunately the Hydro Wells used a wrong drilling method

as we learnt later and that exercise failed miserably

. There was no water found and the man in charge told us the rig machine had broken down and

they had to leave for Kisumu to have it repaired. We were reluctant to let the machine leave but

after several days of no work, in consultation with Fr. Innocent we allowed the team to take the

machine for repair on condition that they leave behind some of their equipment to serve as an

assurance that they would come back. They complied and left some metallic rods to show that

they would come back and even signed a commitment on 12th

feb 2014 to confirm that the

machine would come back to complete the pending work. However that team left and never

came back, efforts to reach them were futile and the work stalled indefinitely for some time.

The first attempt at drilling cost a total of ksh. 460,000?? We went back to the drawing board

We went back to the drawing board and identified another contractor HOPE WATER

DRILLERS led by Mr.AbrahamKiptooNO.9605317. We signed a fresh agreement on 19th

july

2014 and work commenced immediately. He was given a down payment of ksh. 280,000 being

70% of the total cost. This time round the right drilling method was used and after three days,

they struck water.

. The whole St. Bakhita community was excited to see water flowing on our compound for the

first time ever. (Mr Otete(DOS) was heard saying at ‘least kuna maji bwana’, Madam Kutah

‘my girls will really wash ,the dormitory will be clean’ Sellah Otieno a form four student ‘ those

joining the school next year are lucky we have suffered a lot’ and Dorothy the school captain ‘at

least girls will take a shower twice daily and classes washed thrice a week’ a proof of relief from

the problem

Drilling is complete, a water pump was installed, the tower constructed and an overhead tank of

8,000 litres put in place .Only one fetching point is completed. We are hopeful that when we get

more funds we will be able to complete the plumbing work and ensure the water is connected to

the school kitchen, dormitory and our sister primary school Ebukhuliti .This was made possible

by more funds donated to us by well-wishers from St.Michael’s Grammar School in London.

The total cost spent on the second trial was as listed below;

Drilling work 460,000 (Hope Water)

Test Pumping 21,000

Tower built 118,000

Plastic Roto tank 58,100

Plumbing materials 34,860

Electrical materials 19,750

Labour for plumbing and pump installation 41,500

Submermisibe pump and accessories 133,160 (Davis and Shirtliff)

Tentative cost of second attempt ksh. 886,370 of this cost Ksh 150,000 was recovered from

the materials bought during the first attempt.

Cash received;

Challenges

Delays in commencement of the exercise due to logistics of getting the rig on the ground

Disagreements between the hired contractor and the Hydro Well Drillers

Inadequate funds to complete the work.

Working with different groups therefore spent more money.

Signing more than one contract.

Pending tasks.

Despite completion of drilling of borehole which has resulted in water being available in the

school, the expected system of supply has not been completed due to lack of funds. Among the

pending tasks are;

Piping and fittings to supply water to the kitchen

Piping and fittings to supply water to the girls’ dormitories

Piping and fittings to supply water to the neighboring Ebukhuliti primary school

With additional support, we are hopeful the intended purpose of this borehole will be realized.

I take this opportunity to thank Fr. Bernard Phelan for the kind gesture and the generous

donation , Fr. innocent and entire Mill Hill missionaries for support and prayers, friends of the

school and all well-wishers for making us realize one of our goals of ensuring a reliable supply

of clean water. We wish you all God’s blessing in your work.