Where is Buwemba?

Buwemba, Uganda is a small village located in Budaka District. The village is about 20 kilometers (over 12 miles) from any major roads. The village has a population of around 3,000 people with only one well. The well is a shallow borehole dug by hand. It is shared with local livestock, which introduces fecal contamination into the water.

Three distant boreholes were identified near the village. One provides safe, clean water, but is a significant distance for young women to travel to get water. The second well is unreliable - water is often turned off. The third is completely broken down due to high pressure from excessive use and poor construction process.

Community Details

Data for Buwemba and the surrounding area has been collected by Heart of the Lioness and other local organizations over time. While the population of Buwemba is only around 3,000, the population of Budaka (the district in which Buwemba is located) is closer to 280,000 people with around 80% of the population living in rural areas. Population in this area is slowly growing at a rate of around 3%.

The Budaka district (and 65% of the eastern region in this part of Uganda) sits on top of an aquifer. The large majority of water in this area comes from the aquifer. The population mostly uses shared boreholes with hand pumps to pump groundwater from the aquifer for drinking, irrigation and livestock. The following water use data has been collected to estimate how much water will be needed for the Buwemba community:

• Domestic water use:  10 liters person/day all districts

• Irrigation water use:  4,046 liters/hectare/day

• Livestock watering: 20 liters/animal/day

• Industrial water use: 12 liters/day. 

Our Partner: Heart of the Lioness

To ensure this project is successful, Basic Dignities is teaming up with Heart of the Lioness. Heart of the Lioness is a Ugandan nonprofit organization that is registered and located in Uganda. The organization was founded in February, 2021 by Denis Washan, Peter Ziwa, and Mariah Gorretti. Denis, Peter and Mariah were all street children in Uganda. Since they have seen the struggles facing children (and especially girls) in Uganda, they have made it their mission to help improve the lives of young women where they can in their home country.

INSERT PETER/DENIS/MARIAH VIDEO

How can you help?

There are so many ways to help Basic Dignities make this project a success!

• Volunteer your skills (engineering, marketing, fundraising, or anything else you think applies!)

• Get more information to share with your local church, work or organization

• Partner with us to raise funds for Phase 1

• Invite Basic Dignities to come speak about this project

• Donate!

If you’d like to help in any way, please reach out to Brittany Sterling at brittany@basicdignities.org.

Why is clean water important? How does this help lift up young women?

In many African societies (and in this community), it is a girl’s job to collect water for her family. The job affects many facets of their life:

• These girls face sexual harassment, assault and abduction risk. Water collection takes hours due to distant water sources, where girls can be harmed along the route.

• The time it takes to collect water affects school attendance and academic performance. In the case of many rural families, parents send their daughters to collect water before going to school, so school is a secondary priority.

• Physical strain from carrying large quantities of water is also a concern for young girls collecting water for their families.

To keep girls safe and to elevate their quality of life, clean water is a key factor.

Cost

This project will be split into two phases. Phase 1 will include preliminary drilling work, drilling the borehole, installing the well casing and associated materials, and water quality assurance. Phase 2 will include installing the pump, solar panels, and associated electrical work. The cost for both phases is summarized below: