Mugonero Orphanage

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Jennifer is working for Manna Energy Limited, a company bringing clean water to Rwandan communities. The water is sent through gravity-fed gravel and sand filters to remove any large dirt particles. Although the water is clear at this point, it still contains some bacteria, so it passes through ultraviolet light to kill any remaining organisms. The ultraviolet lights are powered with solar panels. Since people are using solar power rather than boiling their water with firewood, the project reduces the demand for firewood which is very scarce and expensive. Manna is able to earn carbon credits as a result of saving Rwanda’s forests, and this is how we will generate income. The water treatment systems are scalable, so they can provide drinking water for 500-5000 people for free.

One of Manna’s first water treatment systems was installed at Mugonero Orphanage in a remote area in the Western province. Jenn and her colleague Innocent, went there for an overnight visit to check the system for maintenance. The drive to Kibuye took about 2 hours and the 30-kilometer drive on the dirt road to Mugonero took another two hours. The orphanage has several buildings: the office, a vocational center, an outdoor kitchen, a kindergarten, and houses divided by age group. Each house has a paid “mother” for the children, and the children attend school in the nearby community. The orphanage is working toward self-sustainability so they have pineapple fields, vegetable gardens, a few cows for milk, and forest for firewood. They are working on building an eco-hotel and windmills.

We toured the orphanage grounds and then visited a nearby secondary school where Manna is currently installing a second water treatment system, one that will be accessible to the whole community. On the way, we dropped off two sick children from the orphanage at a clinic staffed by two volunteer, American pediatricians. The community is very rural and low income, but the setting is beautiful on the shores of Lake Kivu.

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Comments

[Rhonda Orth]

orphanage
Wow - Awesome stuff!