Throughout Kenya, women and girls are responsible to collect water and often spend a significant amount of time each day walking to collect water. Not only do these walks expose them to harsh weather, dangerous terrain and potential attacks, but the water collected often comes from a polluted source.

Those walking for water often walk an average of 4 miles round trip. This can take multiple hours as the terrain is rough and the weather can be brutal. During the dry months when there is no rain, water cannot be collected from waterholes and will instead be retrieved from rivers infested with crocodiles. The walk to the river is more than six miles.

As young girls walk multiple times each day, they often lose the opportunity to receive education while also enduring health risks, social disparities, and environmental impacts.

Risks

As the walk for water takes up most of their day, children and, in particular, young girls, often miss school or do not focus properly on their studies. This lack of education allows a cycle of poverty to continue and limit future employment or economic advancement for these Kenyan families.

When collecting water, there is often no way of filtering out the dirt and bacteria in the water. The dirt and bacteria within the water causes the water to regularly run brown and serious waterborne diseases can easily be contracted.

Besides the risk of waterborne diseases, these Kenyan families often do not have enough water for proper hygiene and sanitation. This creates an environment where diseases such as respiratory illnesses, diabetes, diarrhea, malaria, typhoid and HIV will thrive.

Organizations Providing Clean, Sustainable Water

United Mission Relief (UMR) helps communities in Kenya with food insecurity, economic instability and health issues. They provide an initiative that trains women and children in water-efficient farming methods while giving hands-on experience and entrepreneurial skills in order to create some financial independence.

Water For Life Charity has projects providing wells in Kenya. The organization selects the best location for a well, then conducts a survey to choose an area with water bearing zones present before installing a well.

Water Wells For Africa is an organization that has installed more than 500 wells in Kenya for 29 years. Along with these pumps, they have seen a decrease in waterborne diseases. Many of the pumps installed are built to last and easy to maintain, many of which have already lasted 20+ years.

The Water Project works to equip, train and fund non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that have an established presence in countries such as Kenya, Uganda and Sierra Leone. These NGOs work with The Water Project to provide clean water with reliable access as well as maintenance for installed wells.

Improving Lives

The WellBoring Organization provided wells in Kenya to 40 schools and observed the long-term impacts. The results of the observation showed more education access as enrollment increased by more than 10% with only a 5% absenteeism rate.

As the organization provides safe water to more than 300 schools, the increase in school attendance rose to the millions. Schools with 500 students now have 75 additional students, as children would no longer have to take time out of their day to get water.

The promotion of hygiene practice, along with access to safe water, enhances community health. A significant reduction in waterborne diseases occurred in these communities because of easily accessible and clean water that these wells in Kenya provide.

– Eva Wakelin

Eva is based in Atlanta, GA, USA and focuses on Good News and Technology for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Flickr