SAVE THE RAIN: WATER CONSERVATION PROJECT Kingori Ward, Tanzania Save the Rain is an innovative nonprofit that builds rainwater catchment systems in Tanzania and promotes education on rainwater harvesting and sustainable agriculture. This year, Rustic Pathways joined forces with Save the Rain and local families in the Arusha region to build residential rainwater catchment systems that will be able to store up to a year’s worth of clean water. Save the Rain’s approach starts with forming partnerships with local communities to build rainwater catchment systems at schools. They train local masons to build and maintain the systems and introduce sustainable agriculture classes for students in grades five and six that teach water harvesting techniques through hands-on work on a school farm. They also provide interest-free loans to women through their Women’s Water Initiative to build catchment systems on individual homes and ensure children have access to clean water both at school and at home. All repaid loans are reinvested in the project to expand the number of individuals served. On our Save the Rain program, Rustic students were broken into teams of two and three and worked directly with families and members of the Save the Rain team to build household rainwater catchments systems. In four weeks, our students built 10 systems and funded construction of another 13.
23 rainwater catchment systems built with support of Rustic Pathways
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