Just Add Water: A Maji Milele Story

At St. Thomas Amogoro Girls School in Malaba, Kenya, a quiet revolution is taking place. The school hosts 412 girls, 237 of who are in boarding school. The numbers in boarding have increased recently and the school is performing better – and it’s all down to water.

“Before we used to use water from the river”, Deputy Principal Elizabeth Ogule explains. This resulted in many cases of illness due to use of untreated water, so parents were sceptical about sending their children to our school and the children themselves were not always fully concentrating on their studies.

Now, the school has an agreement with Maji Milele, which has seen clean, treated water available any time of the day or night to the school. This means safe water for drinking, cooking, bathing and cleaning. “The girls are more confident, the school is cleaner and is saving money we used to have to pay street vendors to deliver water”, says the Deputy Principal.

The impact of providing clean water to the school has extended benefits as well, in that parents and families in nearby homes have access to clean water too. Small businesses are also thriving especially those directly involved in transporting water to and from Maji Milele access points to customers.

Maji Milele is an AECF Grantee, and is working to make water services sustainable through the introduction of prepaid water services. Access to the clean, treated water from metered access points is via tokens or credits purchased at Maji Milele agents.