For a community to thirst is not an abstraction. It is a child leaving home before dawn with a jerrycan balanced on her head, arriving at school already exhausted before the first lesson. It is a school that cannot fully maintain hygiene standards because water is too precious to use freely. It is families spending income on water that should go toward food, school fees, and futures. It is elders who have carried this burden for so long that clean water on demand has become something they pray for rather than expect.
At Otange Secondary School in Ndhiwa Sub-County, Homa Bay County, this was not background context. It was daily lived reality — for hundreds of students, for the teaching staff who served them, and for the wider community that surrounds the school. In early 2026, Sukari Industries Limited changed that story entirely.
A Community’s Long Struggle
Otange Secondary School had no reliable water infrastructure on its grounds. Students were forced to fetch water from distant sources before school hours, consuming time and energy that belonged to learning. During dry seasons, the situation intensified — school management was forced to purchase water at considerable expense, and activities requiring water were reduced or suspended. Hygiene suffered. The risk of waterborne illness was a constant, low-level presence in school life.
The challenge was not isolated to the secondary school. The neighbouring Otange Comprehensive School and the surrounding community shared the same plight — a community united not only by kinship and geography, but by a common, daily thirst. The problem was not rainfall. It was infrastructure. The water was beneath their feet. What was missing was the investment to reach it.
Sukari Steps In: A CSR Initiative That Changed Everything
Responding to a need identified through community engagement, Sukari Industries mobilised resources under its Corporate Social Responsibility programme to drill a borehole at Otange Secondary School. The project, executed in early 2026, delivered a fully functional installation — submersible pump, elevated steel support structure, and ground-level tap points providing clean, reliable water directly on the school compound.
The scope of impact was deliberately designed to be wide-reaching. The borehole serves not one institution but three distinct beneficiary groups: Otange Secondary School, Otange Comprehensive School, and the surrounding community at large. This tri-impact design reflects Sukari Industries’ understanding that sustainable development is most effective when it serves the full ecosystem of a community — not a single institution in isolation.
Critically, the project also included the formation of a Community Based Organisation to manage and maintain the water point — ensuring the infrastructure serves the community not for one season, but for generations.
Joy Uncontained: The Human Story Behind the Tap
The inauguration produced scenes that no planning document can fully anticipate. As the tap was opened for the first time and clean water flowed freely, students crowded around — some laughing, some in disbelief, some quietly wiping tears. For many of them, it was the first time water had been immediately available on campus without effort, expense, or uncertainty.
“The burden has been lifted,” said one staff member. “Now our students can focus on learning. They can wash their hands. They can drink water without worry. This is everything.”
Community members who had walked long distances daily expressed overwhelming relief. Mothers spoke of time reclaimed — of children who could leave for school later and arrive with more energy. Elders who had carried this burden across decades described the project as an answer to years of prayer.
Communities need to know who invested in their wellbeing. But more importantly, the visibility of responsible corporate citizenship encourages other organisations to follow suit. When companies see that community investment is recognised and appreciated, they are more likely to invest themselves.
— Edward Ahonobadha, Communications Manager, Sukari Industries Limited
Beyond Sugar, Into Community
The Otange borehole is not a gesture. It is a statement of what Sukari Industries believes corporate responsibility means — not the shallow partnership of photo opportunities and press releases, but the deep partnership of shared problem-solving that produces infrastructure which lasts.
This project joins a growing portfolio of community interventions across Homa Bay County — in education, healthcare, and infrastructure — reflecting Sukari Industries’ recognition that a thriving business is inseparable from the thriving of the communities that surround and sustain it.
To the students of Otange: may every cup of clean water remind you that you are valued, that your future matters, and that Sukari Industries is proud to walk this journey with you.