Perani Secondary School Rainwater Catchment System Project – Kenya
Perani is a small rural village nestled on the southern coast of Kenya approximately 6 km away from Lunga Lunga, the border town of Kenya and Tanzania. The village is located 2 hours south of Mombasa on the tarmac road.
Perani is a remote village of approximately 4,000 people from a diverse collection of tribes such as the Digo, Duruma, Kamba, Kikuyu, and Giriama.
About 98% of the Perani population depends on planting beans and maize once a year to support their household for the entire year. The average income of a family in Perani is close to $20 a month. Impoverished, a huge portion of the community cannot afford school for their children.
This coastal area only receives two seasons of rain, the longer rains from April to July, and the unsustainable shorter rains from October to November.
Most of the houses in Perani are straw huts and lack the metal sheet roofing for rain catchment systems. In the blistering sun, water supply is used at an astonishing rate and finished in a couple of weeks. Water is fetched from a small dirty river, small boreholes or wells up to 5 kilometers away, or from the limited rain-catchment systems around the village.
Constant salt water-contamination limits drinking water supply. Every day women make several trips tying 10-liter jerry cans, which weigh over 30 lbs., on their backs.
This year the Perani secondary school started a tree-nursery and small farm to raise money for school fees and books. The school would like to sell the produce and tree-seedlings at the market to make a profit for the benefit of the students. There are also numerous households surrounding the school that would eagerly pay for water from the secondary school if a source were developed.
This project is to build a rainwater catchment system on the school campus to capture and store water for drinking, sanitation, irrigation for the school’s crops and tree-nursery, and selling for profit.
Water Charity funds will be used for a 5,000-liter durable and reliable Polyethylene Kentank, 20 meters of plastic guttering and piping for the roofs of the school buildings, a sturdy cement platform for the tank, transportation and manual services.
Charles Ngure from Mombasa will be the certified contractor in charge of construction. He is a close relative of the secretary at the school. Charles has agreed to be in charge of buying all the materials in Mombasa and installing everything with his work partners.
Members of the community will travel with Charles and his crew to make sure all the materials get to Perani safely. The estimated time to finish construction of the water catchment system is less than two weeks.
The community will raise up to 1/4 of total budget. They also want to help in any extra manual labor that is needed during construction.
The tank will be placed at the front of the building beside the staff room and in close proximity to the tree and seed nurseries. Gutters and piping will be securely attached to the front and backside of the roofs to channel rainfall into a 5,000 liter tank. A 1/2 meter tall cement platform will support the large tank from the ground. A faucet will be installed at the bottom to take out water, and a pipe will allow extra water to escape from the top.
In addition, a smaller 300 liter portable tank will be purchased to store extra water collected from the large tank. The small tank will be moved around the school easily as needed.
This project will benefit over 1,200 people in the community, especially the students, their families, and members of households around the school.
Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Jessica May-San Yu
This is an important project that uses appropriate technology to provide a reliable source of water for the needs of the school. It will have widespread impact on the health and wellbeing of the entire village.
Dollar Amount of Project
Donations Collected to Date
$555.00 + additional amounts
Dollar Amount Needed
$0.00 – This project has now been fully funded through the generosity of friends and family of Peace Corps Volunteer Jessica May-San Yu, with additional amounts for future projects.
We encourage others to continue to donate using the Donate button below, and we will notify Jessica of your donation. Additional funds will be used to fund the next project by Jessica and/or those of other PCVs in the country of service.
This project has been finished. To read about the conclusion of the project, CLICK HERE.