Hello everyone,
"Polepole" is a word heard quite often in Kenya whether it is while walking along a trail or while urging a workman to get a special job done. "Polepole, Polepole" is Swahili for slowly, slowly and when the temperature is about 34C and the humidity is about 85% it is advice worth heeding.
As you know, our Club has sponsored five water projects in a Rotary Matching Grant Project with the Vihiga Rotary Club. The wells must be completed before the rainy season comes in March to ensure the boreholes will produce water under the most adverse conditions. Plans are underway to dig two of these wells now and compete the remaining projects in November, December of 2006.
This week I visited the two locations where construction work is to begin today. It has been an interesting experience and getting to these
sites is an adventure in itself. Fortunately Rod and Pat Crossley who made a presentation to our Club and are supervising the on-the-ground work, have a four-wheel drive vehicle of which we made good use. The local people are not as fortunate and either walk, or, in some cases bicycle to their homes from the main highway. I will describe one of the sites and include some photos to highlight what a well means to these out of the way communities.
Well number one is being built for the community of Ivagale, on public lands on which is located a small Quaker Church. Near the church is an elementary school where there are a number of orphans, most having lost their parents to "the disease that hurts many people". The "Mama Watato's" which translates as "mother of many children" each day in a windowless hut made from branches and cow dung, over an open fire, cook a lunch meal of beans and rice, laced with Soya for 35 of these parentless children. The food for this meal is provided by friends of the Quakers in the U.S.
These "Mamas" and the women and the children of the community have no well and have to carry water for approximately five hundred yards, and manoeuvre a steep slope (a drop of about 35 metres, to get water from what we would, on a good day, call a mud hole. The effort required to carry the water to the church and to their individual homes is considerable no to mention the simple fact that the water can dry up during the extreme dry season further burdening the community. In the rainy season the trail would be treacherous. I walked this trail with the community leaders and would have found the effort of carrying water up to the community very arduous.
In accordance with the terms of the well being provided, the community has to agree to set up a committee to administer the well. This had been done and the whole community committee which consisted of community elders, women's' groups, security patrol and interested others, was there to welcome us. The meeting in the church began with a simple prayer of thanks giving. Pat explained what was required of the committee. The community must agree to feed and house the well diggers in their homes while the project is underway. They must name several individuals who will agree to be trained and maintain the pump and well site. They must develop a plan to provide security to the well site and they must agree to make the water available to all members of the community. The committee must also establish a few shilling a month fee for those using the well. In this way the community has enough money to maintain the well, while any surplus funds can be used to support other community projects such as a health clinic or the orphan-feeding programme. There are speeches and much discussion during which the responsibilities of various committee members are defined and the project is discussed in great detail. When all the details are finally worked out, there are again prayers of thanksgiving and celebration. It is a very interesting and very democratic process.
At the end, there is another discussion concerning the best location of the well and a branch is stuck in the ground at the agreed upon spot.
At this point the real work begins. Nixon, the well digging contractor, appears on site and starts making concrete culvert sections about 1.2M in diameter and .66M in depth. The well is hand-dug to a depth, sometimes exceeding 30M or, until water is found. The well is deepened another 2 metres to ensure the bottom of the well will be below the water table in the driest of times. When the well is completed a high lift rope and washer pump and a reservoir tank are installed allowing water to gravity feed to an adjoining health clinic or cooking hut. These pumps are extremely simple, virtually vandal-proof and very cheap and easy to repair.
There is, quite naturally a celebration of completion involving the community, Rotarians, and local officials where the well is officially turned over to the community committee to manage.
Unless you witness it, it is difficult to imagine what an impact these well projects have on people's lives. At one site the school principal told us that the female students spent up to four hours caring water to the school for cooking and washing purposes. Properly maintained wells substantially cut the chance of contracting a water-borne infection. The small fee collected for using the well is affordable and allows the community to re-invest in health clinics and schools for their communities.
In addition to visiting the well sites, work continues at Rotary High School. A tentative deal reached with another Canadian NGO in the area to establish an after-hours, for profit computer school using the high school lab as a training facility. A teacher has been hired and profits will be split between the school and the other organization involved. Not only will this provide some extra money for the school but will also help to meet the tremendous need within the community for acquiring computer skills.
This week Sandra and I will be establishing criteria for granting scholarships at Rotary High School, conducting training and meeting with the Kenyan District Education Officer and the local University to explore other opportunities for co-operative collaboration.
On Wednesday last I attended the local Interact meeting, which is held at Rotary High School. I was asked to conduct their election of officers. Competition for the positions was stiff and there were some fine speeches given. This coming Wednesday I have been asked to attend the meeting of the local Rotaract Club, which is held at the university.
On a lighter note, telephone service has been restored and we once again have water, well, cold water, but that is progress. Kenyans never cease to amaze me with their friendly and happy manner. Routinely I am asked to provide assistance to individuals. This week I have twice been asked to pay tuition fees for secondary students, once to pay for seed so that a fellow can plant his plot of land, and once to lend my cell phone so a young boy could call a missionary he met from Ohio. A simple "no" is always cheerfully accepted. On the other hand, when my errant golf ball went out of the course and almost whacked a young lady walking along a nearby road, she disappeared into the underbrush, found my ball and, with a big smile on her face, returned it to me.
As an endnote, the following photo is of my daughter Sarah and her "little friends". The smiles of the Kenyan children are everywhere!
"Maskini na Mwanawe, tajari na mali yake" The wealth of a rich man is like a child to him; and the child of a poor man is like riches to him.
