Namisindwa students use moringa seeds to purify water

Students of Bukokho Seed Secondary School in Bukokho Sub-county, Namisindwa District, have invented a method to purify water using moringa seeds.

The invention is aimed at addressing the issue of waterborne diseases in the sub-county.
 
According to the leaders and health officials in the district, Bukokho, which they described as hard-to-reach, records high cases of typhoid, cholera, and dysentery, among others, due to inadequate access to clean water.

Residents in the sub-county rely on streams and wells for water for both domestic and commercial use. However, these are polluted.

How the water purifying works 
In an interview with Daily Monitor at the weekend, Mr Paul Khisa, a Senior Four candidate, said they decided to come up with this method of water purification because it has no side effects on people. 

Mr Khisa said the process starts by crushing moringa seeds into a powder. The powder is then poured into a container with water, stirred rapidly, and then left to settle for about three minutes. 

“After 30 minutes, the germs will sink to the bottom of the container. You then filter it and the residue will remain on top of the filter and the water, which will pass through the filter, will be clean and ready for drinking,” he said. 

Mr Khisa and his colleagues, Solome Tenibani, Susan Masibo, Hellen Nekesa, and Mercy Nambuya believe the innovation will boost the health of the community. 

Other inventions
Ms Nekesa says they have also created shoe polish from charcoal which they have since begun selling in shops. 

“We crush charcoal dust to make flour and we measure 120 grammes of charcoal flour and 100 grammes of vaseline. We mix them in one container until it is a uniform mixture,” she said. 

She added: “Then we slowly add paraffin until it is semi-solid thus coming up with shoe polish,” she said. 

New curriculum
Ms Deborah Manyiraho, the head teacher of Bukokho Seed Secondary School, attributed the students’ increased innovation to the implementation of the new curriculum. 

The new lower secondary education curriculum, which was introduced in 2020, is learner-centered and aims to ensure learners gain practical skills, knowledge, and values and develop a positive attitude toward work.

Ms Manyiraho said students have made pavers using plastics mixed with sand, paper beads from banana fibres and wine from sugarcane.

Challenges
Mr Martin Mataya, the school laboratory attendant, said there is a need to expand and equip the laboratory with additional apparatus and chemicals to facilitate the students’ scientific experimentation.

Mr Jackson Wakweika, the Namisindwa District chairperson, said students in rural schools have the potential, which is often not exploited.

Dr Sarah Bwayo, the head of resource mobilisation at the Uganda Aids Commission, blamed the district’s low level of student innovation on challenges they face to access education including trekking long distances to school and inadequate welfare for teachers.

Ms Sophia Namutosi Kuloba, the acting Namisindwa District education officer, said the district is committed to improving education standards.

About the school
Bukhoko Seed Secondary School started in 1989 as a community school before the government took it over in 2007. The school has a total of about 500 students.