Karenge Primary School, located in the Kavumu village of Rwanda’s Jarama sector, serves as the academic home of nearly 1,000 students and 30 teachers. Since its founding, Karenge has relied on three nearby lakes as its only sources of water for cooking meals, cleaning facilities, and hydrating staff and students. Due to a lack of proper hygiene and sanitation practices, however, students and teachers frequently fell ill from waterborne diseases.
Last fall, Karenge received several SAM2 filters from 20 Liters.
The goal of these filters is to help the school address many of the health and sanitation issues preventing it from fostering a safe and nurturing learning environment. Odette Mukashyaka, one of the teachers in charge of Karenge’s hygiene protocols, shared in an interview how the filters are making a difference both in and out of the classroom.
“Students and teachers, including myself, were always getting sick because of dirty water. Even though we knew we should be boiling our water, few of us had the time to do so,” said Odette. “This meant that at any given time, students would either be sick or thirsty. But now they love drinking water!”
With Karenge’s SAM2 filters, Odette reports that students no longer miss class due to waterborne sickness. And, since they are no longer sick or thirsty, students’ attention in the classroom has skyrocketed. All of this brings a smile to the face of Odette. Her long-term goals are to raise attendance, test scores, and overall student satisfaction. The SAM2 community filter is helping her reach those goals.
