Tugende Together

In collaboration with Advocacy for Water and Environment Conservation (AWEC) and under the auspices of Swarovski Water School (SWS), TuTo has founded the Water School Program 2021.

The TuTo Water School organizes various workshops whose content is always based on the three pillars of water education, hygiene, sanitation and environmental protection. Knowledge about water is very important, but unfortunately a large part of the population lacks this knowledge.

Given the importance of the scarce water resource, TuTo has purchased several water tanks as part of the water school program. At the start of the project in 2021, TuTo purchased a 10,000-liter tank to store and distribute water pumped using a solar pumping system. This installation has so far solved all problems related to water shortages at the school. In 2022, the school purchased two more water tanks with a capacity of 20,000 liters. These tanks are important for collecting and storing rainwater from the large roofs of TuTo Junior School. Rainwater harvesting is carried out, among other things, to create more attention and awareness that not a single drop of water should be wasted. We are happy to report that thanks to these two initiatives, the school has sufficient and easily accessible water for all children and staff.

This term, TuTo Water School also installed a 750-litre Impact Water Safe Drinking Solution water purifier. The system accesses water from our elevated tank which then passes through a series of filtration systems to remove any impurities. The water is then passed through UV light, where all pathogenic microbes are killed to make the water drinkable. The cleaning system and storage tank are housed in the school’s main storage room to protect them from potential damage. There are several taps on the outside wall of the camp so that all children can easily access drinking water. A team of school staff has been equipped with the technical skills required to operate the system and ensure safety, longevity and efficient functionality as well as availability of high-quality water for our children and staff at all times.

The installation is currently on display here and training of TuTo members is taking place. TuTo Junior School teachers usually distribute water in 20-litre plastic containers and place them in their respective classrooms so that students have easy access to drinking water.

After ensuring water availability at TuTo Junior School for the past three years, the focus is now on providing children with a deeper understanding of water as a resource. In this context, several workshops were held in 2023 to familiarise children with, for example, the three states of water, the hydrogen cycle and the formation of precipitation.

In addition to children, community members also participated in WASH workshops during the term and we received extremely positive feedback from the workshops.