Barrhead Travel is the UK’s leading independent travel company, with an array of awards. Founded in 1975, the Barrhead Travel Group has grown from a single high street shop to a travel giant with 900 employees across 61 outlets.
We have completed projects with their support at Songeni School in Kenya and at Buwambo Health Centre in Uganda. Across the two projects, Barrhead Travel reached 146 people at Songeni School and supported the 5,500 monthly outpatient visitors at Buwambo Health Centre. Please see below for further details about the impact of Barrhead Travel’s support for Just a Drop.
This training will bring a great change not only in our school and us pupils, but also in our homesteads. Diseases related to water and dirt will reduce because of the knowledge that we’ve gained today. We will train our parents on the importance of having a rubbish pit at home, handwashing with clean water and soap and water treatment, among other hygiene practices.
– Student, Songeni School, Kenya
The Partnership
Just a Drop and Barrhead are committed to transforming lives through sustainable water and sanitation solutions. This partnership aligns with Barrhead Travel’s dedication to responsible tourism and social impact.
Songeni Primary School, Kenya
Previously, Songeni Primary School had a piped water supply from a nearby earth dam, but unfortunately, the supply was very irregular – the school estimated that water was only available for one day a week and not at all during the dry season. They also had a government provided plastic water tank, with the capacity of 4,000 litres, which was helpful but not enough to meet the needs of the school.
Thanks to Barrhead Travel, the water situation for the 133 pupils, 10 teachers and 3 support staff members has now improved, as a big rainwater harvesting tank was constructed at the school. This construction began in April 2018 and the new tank can store up to 104,000 litres of water, providing enough for the school’s needs for drinking, cooking and cleaning year round. The tank was also painted with hygiene messages to reinforce the WASH education that took place.
Now, the school is completely different. Attendance increased to 90% of pupils in full attendance and exam results improved. Water has empowered the school, as they now grow their own vegetables and they are no longer forced to purchase expensive and unsafe water. This led to the school being able to invest and built an additional school building.
Read the final project report here.
Buwambo Health Centre, Uganda
Buwambo Health Centre serves a catchment of around 360,000 people and provides services including antenatal care, maternity services, immunisation and paediatrics services, HIV/AIDs care and youth services. Minor surgeries such as vasectomies and hysterectomies are also carried out. Each day, the Centre receives around 150-200 outpatients and admits around 25 patients, as well as carrying out around 90 immunizations a week.
Previously, the Centre only had a simple pit latrine block of 8 stances, which was not enough for the number of people the Centre supports and they were dirty, smelly and not fit for purpose. There were no facilities to get rid of medical or general waste, other than burning (which was illegal) or paying to have it taken away but the contract often lapsed which meant at times rubbish accumulated for several months posing a huge health risk and encouraging stray dogs into the grounds.
The Centre depended on rainwater harvesting with 4 smalls tanks of 5,000 litres each. During the dry season, they had to resort to buying water from vendors and using the rainwater harvesting tanks as storage, which was extremely expensive for the them to keep up with the amount needed. It meant that essential hygiene such as cleaning wards and the latrines was not done as regularly as it should have been and simple handwashing was a challenge.
Thanks to Barrhead Travel, work on the water supply was able to begin in June 2019, with the drilling of a borehole, the installation of a system to pump water to a storage tank and distribution of water to key points around the Health Centre. This has transformed life for both patients and medical staff who are now able to easily access water in the wards, the operating theatres and at the latrines.
The situation at Buwambo Health Centre has now changed completely. The water supports critical healthcare services, including 5,500 outpatient visits and 160 births per month. Water is also provided to the wider community in Buwambo, supporting families and local activities beyond the hospital. Access to safe water also enabled the community to build a new outpatient department with washbasins, toilets, and a sceptic tank. Due to Barrhead Travel’s partnership with Just a Drop, people now have a better quality of life due to an improved health centre close to where they live.
