A day in the life...

Dig Deep was founded in 2007 by two students in the UK who were introduced to an inspirational woman called Agnes Pareyio, a Maasai Kenyan women's rights activist and UN Person of the Year. Agnes helped us set up a fantastic working relationship with her county government which resulted in our first two water projects. Since then we've worked in 45 schools to date. We've constructed clean water supplies reaching 35,000+ community members and safe toilets for 20,000+ school children and provided essential education to 120,000+ school children and family members on hygiene and menstrual health.

To celebrate World Hand Hygiene Day we asked our Programmes Officer, Nelly, to tell us more about her role.

Programmes Officer, Nelly (above and right) pictured completing project visits and delivering Menstrual Hygiene Management training and focus groups .

One of the best and most rewarding parts of my job is observing what we call instilled social behaviour change among the pupils in schools where we've implemented our Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene in Schools (WinS) Programme. The behaviour change imparted to the learners is evident when I make visits to the schools during my routine Monitoring and Evaluation.

Nelly visited Kamegunyet in January 2022 to review the infrastructure built in January 2021 and the impact of good hygiene behaviours of male and female pupils who have received menstrual hygiene management training. Headteacher of Kamegunyet Primary School, David Ochong said:

"When I came here in November 2021, the population of girls was 120, now it is 150. Girls are not ashamed to come to school because of periods. Dig Deep promised us a boys' facility and they are doing it now."

Images from Kamegunyet Primary School. Photo credit: Martev Communications

One of the most captivating moments for me is when I find children instinctively washing their hands after visiting the toilet, finding toilet facilities clean, and seeing the pupils engaging with their learning. This makes me get absolute contentment of nurturing an impactful lifestyle among the young generation.

In a well-established working relationship working between Dig Deep (Africa) and the Department of Education, I have also facilitated training teachers, school committees, and pupils on WASH infrastructure operation and maintenance management.

The aim of this programme is to roll out our intervention in all schools across Bomet County to ensure that pupils and teachers alike are prioritising good hygiene behaviours, preventing sanitation-related diseases, and helping children stay in school to reach their full potential.

Thank you to our donors for their ongoing support and for making our Wash In Schools work possible. You can support Dig Deep and pupils just like those at Kamegunyet here.