Giving Update: Mbiuni Community

"Initially, there were lots of challenges regarding water scarcity and accessibility. We had to walk for very long distances to fetch drinking water. It was very exhausting, considering not many community members had donkeys to ferry the jerrycans back to their homes. The water we got was always contaminated as it was fetched in an open source, and this would often lead to contracting water diseases like typhoid, amoeba, and dysentery," said Steven Mwanzia Munyau.

"Life has really changed now. We would really struggle to get clean water during the dry seasons, but that is not the case now. Water is easily accessible now. In just a few strokes, one can get a jerrycan filled with clean and fresh drinking water. There is ample time for engaging in income-generating activities such as brick making. Using the water from this water point, we are practicing environmental conservation by growing trees at our homes."

Stephen Mwanzia Munyau

"Through the availability of water from this shallow well, each homestead now has a variety of vegetables and fruit trees such as tomatoes, onions, pawpaws, and citrus. As a group, we have established a tree nursery comprising various species such as kale, spinach, tomatoes, mango, and papaya, which will be subdivided among the group members to transplant to their farms. We also plan to sell the tree nurseries at 20 KES ($0.20) each. Young adults have found employment opportunities as they have embarked on brick making for sale because the water is abundant and they have sufficient time as well."

Farmer stands with thriving crops due to well and dam project.