{"id":246572,"date":"2025-09-04T09:42:03","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T13:42:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thewaterproject.org\/community\/?p=246572"},"modified":"2025-09-04T09:59:48","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T13:59:48","slug":"the-first-drop-of-clean-water-for-grace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thewaterproject.org\/community\/2025\/09\/04\/the-first-drop-of-clean-water-for-grace\/","title":{"rendered":"The First Drop of Clean Water for Grace"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When one is born in any community, life looks normal until you grow up and start looking at issues critically and objectively. For me, one of those things was the water source in my community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I was growing up, going to fetch water from a partially protected spring was normal<\/a> for me. It was not until I became an adult and started a family that I realized consuming contaminated water is harmful<\/a> to our health. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our First Visit with Grace: Before Clean Water<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To share with you how it feels to consume water from an unprotected<\/a> source, we made a visit to Grace, a member of a local community in Western Kenya. We deliberately made our visit on the last day before our spring protection<\/a> construction would commence.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Grace fetches water from the community’s old partially protected spring.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For a long time, Grace\u2019s community got water from a partially protected spring constructed in 2008. \u201cPartially protected\u201d means that a structure built around a spring does not fully isolate the water from its environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whenever it rained in Grace\u2019s community, all the surface runoff would end up in the spring, making the water coming from the discharge pipe dirty.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Runoff water courses down the hill above Grace’s spring. In this photo, our artisans are collaborating with community members to open a drainage channel. This channel will direct water away from where people will soon draw safe drinking water.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJust by looking, when it rains heavy, [you can tell that] dirty water is able to infiltrate inside,\u201d Grace said. \u201cWhenever someone fetches water, the person will at least need to boil it or add chlorine if it is there to make it clean.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a mother and a community member, Grace admits to being fully aware of the risks involving the consumption of contaminated water. But since she does not have any other option, she and her family were still forced to consume it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grace informed us that her community has seen numerous cases of sickness and infections. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn my family, my husband fell sick after consuming this water,\u201d Grace explained. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe was suffering from typhoid<\/a>. I managed to take him to the hospital. I felt sad because the money I used for medication, I could have used it for other purposes: buying other things or paying school fees, rather than taking it to the hospital.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having lived in this community for a long time, Grace has always had to make do with unsafe water. But even accessing the water becomes a challenge when it rains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhenever it rains, the path becomes so slippery and dangerous,\u201d Grace said. \u201cFurther, there are dangerous insects and other creatures like crabs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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One of the mudcrabs that lives at Grace’s spring.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After having gone through all this, Grace was still optimistic. She hoped that one day all that would come to an end. She prayed and hoped that the water she was consuming on that last day would be her last-ever drop of dirty and contaminated water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Clean Water: Following Up <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Our artistans protected the spring in Grace\u2019s community. Once it was completed, we decided to go back and capture the contrast \u2014 consuming clean water after having made do with unsafe water for so long. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On arrival, we were welcomed by a nice-looking spring: well-constructed, fenced, with stairs and crystal clear water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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