A Year Later: Shivagala Community

A year ago, generous donors helped rehabilitate a well with Shivagala Community in Western Kenya. Because of these gifts and contributions from our monthly donors, partners can visit project sites throughout the year, strengthening relationships with communities and evaluating the actual water project. These consistent visits allow us to learn vital lessons and hear amazing stories – we’re excited to share this one from our partner, Paul Weringa with you.

Shivagala Community now has great relief from drinking dirty water. They used to draw their water up from an open with a bucket tied to rope. Since the well was rehabilitated with a new well pad and AfriDev pump, not only are people enjoying good health with clean water, but they're no longer suffering from back and chest pains as a result of lifting the heavy bucket over and over again.

Paul interviewing Rachael Muronji

Families are now healthy and able to do other activities in the home without having to deal with the issues that come from drinking dirty water. Women have enough time to care for their children, cook, and tend to their gardens.

Paul met with the water committee's treasurer, Rachael Moronji. She said, "Our children used to have diarrhea after drinking water from the open well. This took all of our little money away for medical bills. Today, we are healthy and continue to enjoy the clean water from the well, and our children attend school without issues." She said that there's even enough water for the community's livestock. "Our livestock are now healthy," she rejoiced. This has boosted their milk production, and thus income for the community.

12-year-old Auriela Shakava agreed, saying "going to school regularly is an achievement to me. This is made possible by the project which provides clean water, eliminating typhoid which caused me to miss school."

The only challenge here is that many people are still not willing to contribute fees for their well, which would be used for maintenance. They have the idea that water should be free, but the well is really providing a service that needs to be maintained to ensure sustainability. Our team continues to engage with them on this through our quarterly monitoring visits and other trainings.

The Water Project and our partners are committed to consistent monitoring of each water source. Our monitoring and evaluation program, made possible by monthly donors, allows us to visit communities up to 4 times a year. Read more about our program and how you can help.