Turkana, Kenya
Introduction
The water project in Nayenakabaran village has been a huge relief for the residents of the lakeside village as it has allowed them easy access to fresh, clean water. The difficulties caused by the location had previously made it extremely difficult for the residents to access drinkable water despite many previous attempts to drill boreholes at nearby sites.
The solution
After several years of work, as well as learning from a similar project which was carried out in Todonyang, the decision was made to drill a bore hole further uphill, at Kareedome village, and pipe the water all the way to Nayenakabaran village, approximately 7km away. Once we came up with this idea, the next step was to find the funding necessary to carry it out.
Thanks to New Ways, we managed to secure funding for this project which was then carried out in multiple steps and phases as new funds came in.
Project Implementation
With the help from New Ways UK and other friends and organisations from the UK and Fundación Barcelo, we managed to successfully implement the project in phases. The Fundación Barcelo from Spain paid for the drilling of the borehole while New Ways UK and its contacts paid for the rest of the works which included installation of the solar pump system, construction of the tower where the 2 tanks were put in Kareedome, construction of the 2 water troughs, one in Kareedome and the other in Nayenakabaran, construction of the water fetching points and the piping of the water from Kareedome to Nayenakabaran as well as the water tower and tanks in Nayenakabaran.
Beneficiaries
The project benefits around 2,500 people directly, mostly women and children, who for the past 10 years or more had to travel long distances in search of water. With the availability of water closer to them, the women and children will be able to engage in other chores, care for their children and become involved in other economic activities which will boost their income, such as fishing, basketry and beadmaking.
With the increased availability of water in the village, the people of Nayenakabaran have now began practicing agriculture by making small farm plots in some allotted areas near the water source. This allows them to produce watermelons, spinach, and cowpeas.
Sustainability
The sustainability of the project is guaranteed because there is a water committee which has been formed to oversee the running and maintenance of the whole infrastructure. The community pledged to contribute from each household to cover the annual fees necessary to be registered with the Pump Maintenance Unit (PMU). This is a unit that maintains and services the pumps monthly and relies on the community contributions to continue maintaining the borehole.
Conclusion
The people of Nayenakabaran village are extremely happy with this new development. The long years of lacking potable water in the village has finally been solved and now they can engage in agricultural activities thanks to the availability of water. At Todonyang mission, we are grateful to New Ways UK and their contacts as well as Fundación Barcelo-Spain for their generosity.
We have put together a video of our project which you can see here: