WASH'n'soul in Zambia
Zambia connects growth, creativity, and significant challenges in everyday life. Particularly in the peri-urban areas around Lusaka, schools and families struggle with unreliable water supplies. Sometimes water flows, sometimes it does not. Power outages, rationing, and limited resources make daily life unpredictable. And it is at this point that the work of Viva con Agua begins: where water is lacking and the future is at a standstill. With the WASH’n’soul project, Viva con Agua, together with BORDA Zambia, strengthens water, sanitation, and hygiene at schools in peri-urban areas around Lusaka. The approach is holistic. It combines infrastructure, hygiene knowledge, menstrual health, and local responsibility structures.
Our milestones
✔️ Access to water for over 25,500 people: Solar-powered systems ensure reliable water supply, even during power outages. This makes drinking water, hygiene, and education possible again.
✔️ Sanitation facilities for more than 27,000 students: New and renovated toilet facilities create safe, clean, and dignified conditions for children and teachers.
✔️ Hygiene promotion for over 29,000 people: Creative formats such as Football4WASH, Talking Walls, and WASH Clubs bring knowledge to life and into daily practice.
✔️1,820 girls empowered through menstrual health: Access to hygiene materials, safe spaces, and knowledge that enables school attendance. Boys are also included and become allies.
✔️School is once again a place of learning: Fewer absences due to illness, less class disruption, less burden on parents and teachers. Water creates learning time and strengthens future prospects.
In Zambia, cleaner water is still not a reality for many people. When water is lacking or contaminated, entire communities are affected. However, once a reliable source emerges, everything in the immediate environment changes. ✨ Healthier living – cleaner water and simple hygiene practices reduce diseases. ✨ More education – children can go to school instead of spending long hours each day fetching water. ✨ Stronger communities – especially women gain time for family, work, and their own projects.
DONATE
A project story
Developments in Zambia
Zelenia Mphasi is a Pre Grade teacher and football4WASH Ambassador at the Shuko Home Based Care Community School in Chainda, a peri-urban area in Lusaka. She lives directly in the neighborhood of the school and has dedicated herself to guiding young children for years – in lessons and in everyday life. However, for over a year, her work was overshadowed by a persistent water crisis that burdened both the school and the entire community.
Although the school is officially connected to the Lusaka Water Supply and Sanitation Company network, it had no reliable access to water. Due to massive power outages, water was rationed throughout Lusaka. The school's supply remained dry. The last documented water delivery was in March 2024. This meant for the children and the team: no water for drinking, no water for hygiene, no water for cleaning.
Zelenia and her colleagues had to walk about 500 meters to a water kiosk every day to buy water. The school needed more than 1600 liters weekly for drinking, cooking, hand hygiene, and toilets. However, a 100-liter barrel cost approximately 1.6 euros. The school's budget was tight since fewer than 100 children could fully pay their fees. In the end, the school only covered half of the needs and spent about 13 euros per week on water. For a school in a vulnerable community, this is a huge burden.
The consequences were felt by everyone. Toilets could not be cleaned. Handwashing stations were often empty. Many children brought water from home or could not wash their hands at all. The risk of illness increased. There were several outbreaks of diarrhea. Children were absent. Parents sent their children to other schools because Shuko did not have enough water. The quality of teaching suffered. The school's reputation did too.
For Zelenia, it was especially bitter. She teaches hygiene, health, and behavior change. But without water, the content remained empty. Her words were there, but the practice was missing. “It was painful to teach hygiene without having the basics,” she would later say.
Today, the situation has changed. Finally, clean water flows at the school. And with every liter, a piece of the future comes back.
“We are very happy to finally have clean water at our school. Now our pupils can wash their hands more often, stay hydrated, and we can keep toilets clean. As an Ambassador, I can teach hygiene and do F4W drills with pupils the right way. The school also earns some money by selling water to the community, which helps us maintain our facilities.”
For Shuko Community School, water is far more than a resource. Water was the missing step between potential and progress.
And this is exactly where the work of Viva con Agua comes in. Clean water creates space for learning, space for health, and space for a hopeful future.
