Welcome to H₂O Toto (Water Children)

H₂0toto meaning “water children” is an NGO dedicated initially, to the provision of general education, safe domestic water, hygiene and sanitation within schools and village communities within a rural part of Kenya.

We hope to set up and maintain sustainable projects using available and appropriate technology. This will be done with the agreement of the local community, and will eventually be managed by the community itself.

H20toto is entirely independent and relies on voluntary support and private donation.

H20toto is registered by the UK Charity Commission No 1101325.

What H20toto wants to achieve

H20toto is dedicated to helping the children in Gategi Primary School and other schools in the area.

Gategi is a village about 80 miles east of Nairobi in Kenya. It is poor without mains power, water or drainage.

The primary school children average 50 to a class with 8 classes in total, and have very basic facilities. They desperately need what we in the west would consider standard equipment. There is a great shortage of school textbooks, reading books, stationery, sports facilities, and musical instruments. School lunches are healthy but consist of a daily bowl of beans, cooked on the premises. In spite of their hardships the children are cheerful and hard working. Just a small donation would make a difference to their situation and would be received with gratitude.

Project No. 1

School equipment and book donations

We have already started to pay for stationery, exercise book etc, but with further donations we can help more children. It is best to buy locally in Kenya so that we help the local economy.

£5 will buy a set of pencils and crayons for 5 school classes
£10 will buy 20 English text books
£20 will buy 10 school footballs
£50 will buy 3 sets of exercise books for each of the 8 classes

Project No. 2

Schools Water Project

We aim to provide schools within the vicinity with basic water facilities. Our present project is to build as many water tanks as possible to accommodate the surplus roof water. The children can then use this water increasingly for basic sanitation needs. We will buy some locally made filters to make the water drinkable and reduce the spread of disease. It will also become less necessary for the children to visit the river to collect water. We will attempt to find other ways to improve water collection and sanitation.

£12 could provide 12 hygienic latrines for a school
£35 could provide a water filter and train someone to use it
£65 could cover the cost of materials for a system which filters rain water
£250 could provide materials for the construction of a well near a school
£500 could provide a very substantial tank or tanks constructed in concrete, including a network of guttering rainwater from a school roof

Project No. 3

Provision of Education and Training

A community-training programme where the children learn to make their own water filters, improving the water quality generally and using local enterprise to help generate further income. Another example being researched is the manufacture locally of cheap solar panels for small battery charging.

Project No. 4

Sponsorship of individual children

We are already sponsoring the education of an individual child in Gategi.