Canada in Full Colour — and What That Means to Us

There is something quietly powerful about Canada Day.

Not the fireworks, though those are wonderful. Not the flags or the parades or the community BBQs, though all of those have their place too.

It's the people.

This year, the theme for Canada Day 2026 is Canada in Full Colour — a celebration of bold expression, community diversity, and the distinct backgrounds woven into this country's story. From coast to coast to coast, Canadians are gathering to celebrate what it means to belong to something larger than themselves. To show up for each other. To build something that lasts.

At Acts for Water, that theme lands close to home.

Thirty years and still running.

In 1993, in a village called Bujaga in Rwampara District, Uganda, a community and a small group of Canadian volunteers began carving a gravity flow water system out of solid rock.

It was hard going. There were weeks when volunteer numbers were low. When a key organizer, a man named Vincent Bagirana, fell sick with malaria, the project stalled. It moved when he did, and not much before.

Three years later, in 1996, clean water reached Kigarama Village. A concrete plaque was set into a stone wall:

"This water system is an initiative of the people of Uganda, supported by volunteers from ACTS-Canada in cooperation with the Church of Uganda, funded by the people of Canada (CIDA/ACTS). It is now the property of the people of Uganda, administered by the Bujaga Water Management Committee."

That plaque has been there for thirty years.

The iron frame has rusted. Weeds push through the cracks. But the pipe is still running.

What thirty years looks like.

Vincent Bagirana is still there too.

Today he organizes residents, collects user fees, and keeps tap committees active across Kigarama Village. He has done this every year since the system was completed. In his words:

"For over 30 years, Bujaga gravity flow scheme has been a blessing to our community. We gave free land where pipes passed and contributed in-kind labour because we saw the project as ours."

Edrida Kamitooma is 74 years old. She lives in Kyehunde Village and has been drawing water from this same scheme since she was a young mother.

She remembers what came before. Three-hour walks to a stream. Water that turned red when you cooked it. Children sick with diarrhea and typhoid. A daughter or a granddaughter walking alone in the dark — a risk no family should have to accept as normal.

"This gravity flow scheme did not only bring water — it brought dignity, better health, time savings, and hope for future generations."

Upesi Robinson is a health worker at Ndeija Health Centre III. He has watched waterborne disease rates fall across the community he serves. Children who used to miss school with preventable illness are now attending regularly.

"Clean water is not only a basic need — it is the foundation of good health, dignity, and community development."

A Canadian gift that became a Ugandan responsibility.

That is the part worth sitting with on Canada Day.

The Bujaga water scheme was built by a Canadian charity with Canadian volunteers and Canadian donor dollars. But from the moment that plaque went into the wall, it belonged to Uganda. The community gave land, contributed labour, organized committees, and collected user fees. They chose to treat it as theirs — because it was.

That's how it has lasted thirty years.

It hasn't lasted because of Acts for Water. It has lasted because of Vincent, and Edrida, and Upesi, and hundreds of neighbours who decided that clean water was worth protecting.

We like to say that we build systems communities own and operate themselves. 

That's not a talking point. Bujaga is what it looks like.

Canada in full colour.

The Canada Day theme this year isn't just about celebrating who we are. It's about celebrating what we do with who we are.

Acts for Water exists because Canadians — from many backgrounds, many cities, many faith communities — decided that access to clean water is worth showing up for. Year after year. Generation after generation.

Our donors have kept this work going for over thirty years. Our teams have carried pipe through difficult terrain. Our partners have stretched every dollar further than we thought possible. Our Canadian staff and board have stayed committed through every challenge.

That is a community in full colour.

And somewhere in Uganda, a pipe installed in 1996 is still carrying clean water to families who depend on it — because Canadians cared enough to build it right, and because Ugandans cared enough to keep it running.

That is something to celebrate today.

Happy Canada Day from everyone at Acts for Water.

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Want to be part of what we build next?

Become a monthly Source Supporter at acts.ca/give-monthly — and help ensure that thirty years from now, another community is still drinking clean.

A note on this post: The Bujaga gravity flow scheme was originally constructed in 1993–1996 in Rwampara District, Uganda, through a partnership between ACTS-Canada, the Church of Uganda, and the Government of Canada (CIDA). It remains operational today, maintained by the Bujaga Water Management Committee and the communities it serves.

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