At Mahuu village, Same district in Kilimanjaro region, Same Water Supply and Sanitation Authority has distributed piped water to respective areas, but the obligation of connecting water to households lies with the people themselves. In Same, water is somehow a scarce commodity, be it either  for domestic or business use. Water access is a challenge to almost everyone in the community including Ambrose Andrea who is a bachelor, farmer and a businessman. 

Ambrose used to walk for more than six kilometres a day in search of clean and safe water.  Sometimes he had to wait in a line for more than five hours to get water and at times the water was not clean and safe. This led to a delay to his daily activities.

Without access to clean water, there were a number of health challenges such as water borne diseases to the villagers.

Ambrose had a dream of solving this dire water problem which despite being a farmer and a businessman, he was not able to solve due to the cost associated with accessing the water supply infrastructure such as well drilling, water storage (water tanks), water pump, water taps and water pipes for distribution. Through SameKaya SACCOS marketing officer, Ambrose learned about the opportunities in accessing Water Supply and Sanitation (WSS) financing from SameKaya SACCOS.

He says, “I got a loan of TZS 22 million from SameKaya SACCOS which I repaid monthly.  The fund was used to  drill a well, purchase two water tanks (10,000 litres each), water pump installation, water connection pipes and water pipes. After the installation more than 1,400 people from Mahuu village are  benefitting from this water infrastructure. Also, I connected water to three households that  pay their bills at the end of the month.”  The villagers pay 100 shillings for one 20 litres bucket.

Ambrose is grateful to SameKaya SACCOS for the water infrastructure loan because now he and his fellow villagers can access clean and safe water at all times of the year.