Save the Rain partnered with the United Nations Development Program and the Millennium Promise to bring clean water to a rural mountain top village in Uganda. The conditions were difficult but the results were incredible.

The greatest challenge faced by the community of Ruhiira, Uganda was access to water. The village, with its surrounding neighbors, has a current population of 60 000 people. Ruhiira sits on top of a series of mountains. The forest that once provided shade and coverage has been cut away for profit. All that remained was a desolate community dependent on the nutrition of bananas and a long journey down the mountain to the nearest source of water. Of the ground water resources available, all but one was heavily contaminated with fecal matter. Children, in bare feet, walked for hours to collect water for domestic need. This is typical for an African child. But in Ruhiira, many children were walking as much as 7 hours a day for water. One had to ask: When is there time for an education?

This summer, all that began to change. For 4 weeks, Save the Rain partnered with the United Nations Development Program in Uganda and the Millennium Promise in New York to teach the community of Ruhiira to harvest the rain both on the village schools and on the ground. With a crew of 55 locals, we built 5 systems totaling 51 000 gallons. We created a protected spring project with a slow sand filter to provide daily access to clean drinking water for the whole community and a roof water harvesting project on a school for 773 children. The project was a huge success. We set in motion a viable solution for all 60 000 inhabitants. The UNDP will help to fund more rainwater harvesting projects in this community now that Save the Rain has educated a team of capable villagers to build them.

We will be returning to Ruhiira at some pont to provide even more Rain Catchment education and to initiate more projects. On behalf of Ruhiira, we deeply thank you for your support.