Stories from the Field
As we work to provide water, we're committed to helping people like you meet your global neighbors and to realize that we all share the same basic needs. We hope to break down stereotypes and the false distinctions between the so-called winners and losers, rich and poor, the needy and charitable, by introducing you to the people we serve with the respect and admiration they rightfully deserve.
These are stories of hope, told in the words of those who carry out this work every day - our friends in the field.
A Year Later: Boosting Family's Diet!
Last year, community members of Nzimba used to walk extremely far distances to find water. “Before the construction of this sand dam project, I used to walk for long distances (about ten kilometers) to [the] Kamunyu River in order to fetch water for use," said 70-year-old farmer Kimelu Mutui. "[The] Kamunyu River is also seasonal with an inadeq...
A Year Later: Feeling Good!
Before we protected Nanjendo Spring in Imbinga Community, people would have to scoop up water from the spring cup by cup, often stirring up sediment and muck as they did. Fetching water took a long time, and the end product was often full of particles. All of this culminated in frequent outbreaks of waterborne diseases and a lack of time and energ...
A Year Later: "So happy and grateful"
When the well at St. Joseph Junior Secondary School dried up, it left almost a thousand students and teachers without water for drinking, cleaning, or handwashing. And when the well did work, its water was often contaminated. "Before, this water point was seasonal," said principal Erica Kotio, whom we interviewed both before and after the well was...
A Year Later: More Time and Better Income!
Before we rehabilitated the well in Kinenabwere Kasamba, people had to walk far distances to a neighboring community's well, and the well didn't always have water to give. People were desperate for water, which made collecting it hard for kids like 12-year-old Kevin. "Whenever my parents would send me to collect water, I would [take too much time]...
A Year Later: "We really want to express our sincere thanks."
Whenever the students or teachers needed water last year at St. Paul's, they had to leave the school campus to find it. "Before the rehabilitation of the school well, there were constraints as to where to get water for both the pupils and the teachers as well," said Daniel Samura, 55-year-old headtacher of St. Paul's Roman Catholic School. "Somet...