The way to reverse environmental decline in Rusinga is to teach our students what their responsibilities are towards making that happen. You can be a part of that effort.

Clean water is critical to the health of Bright Light students. On the island of Rusinga, water is at the center of every part of daily life, used for gardening, cooking, cleaning, and, after being boiled or distilled for drinking.

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Water is the life source of any community and every ecosystem.

Lake Victoria is the largest lake in Africa and the second largest freshwater lake in the world. It supports the health and the economies of millions of people in different countries who share its shoreline. Its multiple water pollution challenges – agricultural runoff, industrial discharges, domestic waste, plastics, dying diversity of fish species, and the impact of climate change on the lake ecosystem has made this primary source of water for Rusinga’s inhabitants unfit for consumption, and shrunk the key livelihood of the community – fishing.

Your donation will allow us to install
asolar-powered water pump and purification system, bringing clean running water into our school while staying eco-friendly.

Our school is very close to Lake Victoria and urgently needs a running water system in the compound for our growing school population. The system will bring purified water for drinking, and be used for irrigation and modern sanitation facilities.

In the first few years, our school director filled jerry cans with lake water and used a wheelbarrow to take them back to the school. This was repeated several times before school began each day. Now a hired tractor driver, the Waterman as students call him, drives multiple cans every day and the water, used for sanitation and irrigation is stored in a water tank gifted to the school by a local church. Several water container stations are located around the school to ensure students keep their hands clean.

In the rainy season, a donated water tank holds rainwater captured in classroom gutters for drinking, which is purified with tablets provided by the government. But various illnesses from water toxicity are still common. Due to climate change, droughts and increasingly extended dry seasons are making this rainwater harvesting method less effective for our 90 students and staff. To protect their health, the Waterman must drive to the town of Mbita, where we purchase multiple jerry cans of purified drinking water each week.

Your donation towards the installation of a clean running water system will improve the health and quality of life of Bright Light’s students. Continuing education about Lake Victoria will help our newest cohort of young environmentalists develop sustainable living habits and trends that will contribute to the regeneration of one of Africa’s great natural wonders.

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