When Frederik Lokeun looks across the grounds of St. Matthews Nadome Primary School near Kakuma Refugee Camp in Turkana County, he sees more than classrooms filled with learners. He sees what becomes possible when a community gains access to one of life’s most essential resources: clean water.
As the school’s headteacher, Frederik has witnessed firsthand how water scarcity affects nearly every aspect of a child’s education. When water was difficult to access, absenteeism was common, hygiene challenges persisted and many learners struggled to fully participate in school life.
That reality began to change when the school gained access to a reliable water supply.
Within just three months, enrolment increased from 500 learners to more than 600. Absenteeism dropped significantly as more children began attending school consistently and spending more time focused on learning.
For Frederik, the improvement in attendance was not surprising. Access to water influences far more than thirst. It affects health, hygiene, nutrition and ultimately a child’s ability to learn.
“Before we had clean water at school, children were often absent,” he explains. “Now, we already see a difference.”
The benefits quickly extended beyond the classroom.
With a reliable water source in place, the school strengthened its school feeding programme, ensuring learners had access to meals such as maize porridge during the school day. Plans are underway to establish a school garden that will provide vegetables for learners while creating practical opportunities for agricultural learning.
As nutrition improved, so too did the learning environment.
Access to water and improved sanitation facilities created conditions that allowed children to attend school more consistently and participate fully in their education. For girls, the impact has been particularly important.
According to Frederik, improved sanitation has helped create a more supportive and hygienic school environment, reducing barriers that often affect girls’ attendance and participation in school.
“It is crucial for girls to finish school because it gives them a better chance to escape poverty,” he says.
The improvements taking place at St. Matthews Nadome Primary School reflect a broader transformation underway across Turkana West through the Sustainable and Inclusive Water Access for Refugees and Host Communities in Turkana West (SIWA) Project, funded by Denmark in Kenya through the Inclusive Refugee Responses Programme in Kenya and implemented by Amref Health Africa.
Since 2024, the project has enabled 83,800 people to gain access to safe drinking water. 9 schools, 1 ECDE centre and 5 health facilities have been connected to reliable water supplies, while 40 villages have achieved Open Defecation Free status through the adoption of improved sanitation practices by 2,058 households.
These investments are helping strengthen community health while creating better conditions for learning.
Across the project area, 4,421 learners have benefited from improved school sanitation facilities that support hygiene, wellbeing and school attendance. The impact extends beyond school compounds as children carry hygiene lessons home, helping influence healthier practices within their families and communities.
For Frederik, this ripple effect is one of the most important outcomes of the project. Sustainable change happens when schools, families and communities work together to improve health and wellbeing.
His vision is simple: communities free from preventable waterborne diseases and children able to focus on learning rather than the challenges caused by water scarcity.
The experience of St. Matthews Nadome Primary School demonstrates that access to safe water is about much more than infrastructure. It is about creating the conditions for children to learn, communities to thrive and futures to flourish.
As Frederik puts it:
“Water is life. Water comes first, even before food.”