Everyone at Water is Life Kenya (WILK) has been busy this year, both stateside and abroad. Since October, our bi-monthly email newsletter, WILK Wednesday, has been updating many of our donors about what we’re doing. We realized that we were unintentionally leaving out our donors who haven’t yet subscribed.
To keep you in the know, we’ve compiled highlights from our WILK Wednesdays for you here. We hope you enjoy this brief review of how you and our generous community of donors have been helping Kenyans bloom this year.
Working With Our Partners
In January, we hosted Engineers Without Borders – Delaware Professional Chapter, an amazing group of engineers who volunteer their vacation time to complete service projects in Kenya. This time, they worked at Imurtot Primary School in Loitokitok to repair the rainwater catchment system they installed in 2020. They also scouted for areas where they can provide water collection assistance in the future. We look forward to EWB’s next project!
We also partnered with the Lions Club, which has connected us to many selfless people. On February 9, we visited the United Nations campus in Nairobi for the annual Lions Day at the UN event. Speakers including Deputy President of Kenya Rigathi Gachagua discussed the importance of tackling the global climate crisis. The persistence of lengthy droughts, including the 2.5-year-long drought that communities in Kajiado County dealt with, has negatively affected the Kenyan economy. The Lions stand in solidarity with local NGOs, as climate change has brought problems to much of East Africa and around the world.
In happier news, our friend Paul of the Pike Creek Green Hills Lions Club made a donation for the Nooriro Community Borehole, drilled just after Lions Day. In fact, Paul was with us when, at 150 meters, we hit water! The mission for each Lions Club is to serve others, and our friends from Pike Creek went above and beyond that calling to help the people in Nooriro get that much closer to having clean water available to them.
Borehole Projects in Progress
Not only did we begin a new borehole project in Nooriro, we also celebrated the Opening Ceremony for the Empalakai borehole in Rombo, Kajiado. Sakimba Parashina, a member of the Kenyan Parliament, was there for the ceremony. Also present was the choir from St. Francis Church in Karen, Nairobi—where Joyce sings. They celebrated with great gusto, singing hymns and bringing food to the women of Empalakai. The event also was featured on CitizenTV, the local Kenyan news station. With clean water now available, residents can come back to Empalakai and take advantage of their new local water source. A video of this event is available on Water is Life Kenya’s YouTube page.
We also installed a water pump for the borehole at Ilkisonko Boys High School which was drilled last year. This pump was purchased through the generosity of our Giving Tuesday donors, who helped us raise $15,000 in a single day. Many Maasai men have attended and graduated from Ilkisonko, and the school’s reputation has improved due to its strong, dedicated teachers. Now the borehole is not only benefiting the Ilkisonko students at staff, but also providing clean water to the surrounding community.
This month, construction at Nooriro has begun. Our contractor has been hard at work to lay the foundation for the water tank, pump house, pipelines, and latrines. Local people are benefitting from the work, too, as they’re hired and paid fairly as day laborers. The community is delighted to be building this well together!
Hope for Widows
It’s been a year since we implemented our Hope for Widows Pilot Program. Based on the results we’ve complied, we’ve learned so much about what we can do to help women who otherwise would have to beg for food and money to support their children.
After 7 training sessions, in November these widows were each were given $200 and three goats at the Goats and Grants Ceremony. Then they started their businesses in December, and we’ve been monitoring their progress to determine how we can make the program more effective in the future. Even during the worst part of the drought, 50-60% of the women used their new skills to both save money for food and school fees as well as invest more into their business. What a victory!
Recent Events
We’ve been all over the tristate area to spread the word about WILK! In March, we participated in the Faith Filled Women Conference in Salisbury, MD, bringing news—and beads!—to women from different churches in the area. We also took part in Dansko Ladies Night in West Grove, PA. It was fun to spend time with our friends at Dansko again and connect with the other community vendors that were there.
In April, we partnered with CoroAllegro for three nights of music and culture in their Around the World in 80 Minutes concerts. Our very own Joyce Tannian collaborated with the group and brought some Kenyan music to Newark and Wilmington. We also overcame the rain while under tents at University of Delaware’s AG Day event. Students, parents, professors, and Newark community members stopped by to learn more about how they can support our Maasai friends in Kenya, and hundreds of people walked away with beautiful Beaded Handicrafts. What’s better than spreading joy and hope on a rainy day?
We also hosted our 7th Thirst Reverse event in Newark, DE, as well as our 1st in Ardmore, PA. Both events were at Iron Hill Brewery and Restaurant locations. Thanks to their generosity—and the generosity of all our esteemed, Kenyan-Quench-drinking guests—we were able to raise funds to reboot our Livestock as a Business (LAB) program. Many people were excited to donate cows and goats to our Kenyan friends! We hope to take this event on the road again, branching out to new areas to reach even more people who would like to eat, grab a beer, and learn about our life-changing work.
Past and Present Special Campaigns
Last but not least, we’ve promoted several campaigns to help our Maasai friends deal with the drought that’s only recently let up. In September, October, and November, we brought food staples to both schools and families throughout Kajiado County. Then again in February, with the drought still in effect, we delivered more food to schools whose students were starving. In all, you, our donors, contributed $45,000 in food relief during the worst part of the drought.
During our time in Kenya, we saw just how many people, and especially women, suffered because of the drought. It impacted their ability to purchase food, pay school fees, and, in general, care for their families. So many children came to us for help because they just wanted to go back to school. We started our sponsorship program, Special Faces, Special Cases, to help support those who needed money for their school fees. We hope to sponsor as many children as we can so that they’ll get the education they want so much.
That brings us to the present! We hope you’ve enjoyed our summary of events and operations from the year so far. Please consider signing up for our bi-monthly WILK Wednesday newsletter at our new website so you can follow along in real time. And, as always, thank you for your continued support over the last fifteen years. None of this work would be possible without dedicated supporters like you.
