At Nakivale Refugee Settlement in Uganda, one of the ways we serve refugees there is with water – lots of it. Our extensive water system pulls from a nearby lake, purifies the water, and then distributes that water to 42 points throughout the settlement. And it’s the only water that the over 120,000 refugees living in Nakivale have access to.
So it goes without saying – it’s important that the system doesn’t break down.
That’s where Justice comes in. He leads and oversees a team of plumbers who walk the pipeline and fix any problems that come up.
“This is a 24 hour job,” says Andrew, our Operations Officer at Nakivale. “Justice is awake at all times to make sure that water gets to where it needs to go.”
Justice could use a few things to help him do his job, efficiently and safely. So for Day 321, we decided to do a little something special for him.
“Justice has a passion for this work,” says Andrew. “He’s proactive.”
And you can see this passion right away with just a quick exchange with the head plumber. “I’ve been doing this for two years,” he says. “I love my job because I serve vulnerable people with water. It’s hectic work but we try our best.”
Some of the more hectic times happen during the darkest times of day. “Sometimes I supply water at night,” he explained. “It’s the most challenging, but we have to do it.”
So we decided to get him a few things to make his work just a little less challenging – a solar headlamp from Watts of Love, new coveralls, and, most importantly, a brand new cell phone.
“This is so great!” said Justice as he received his thank you gifts. “When I’m working I can take pictures with the phone, plus coordinate with my colleagues. And the light will help me to see what I’m doing. It will help me to move at night.”
Justice was very surprised to receive these tokens of appreciation – but he’s so deserving of it. Now, he’ll be able to see a little bit better, protect his clothes from the grimy work of plumbing, and stay connected to his teammates as they work to get water to everyone at Nakivale.
