Ending Water crisis in Kenya’s Makueni County

For Lydia Muthengi, every morning requires a long walk to collect water for home use- usually from a distance, and from an unclean and unsafe natural source. There are only a few occasions on which she can afford to purchase water from a vendor at the stone collection points.

“Water comes to the fetching points occasionally.  Most days I walk for two or three kilometers
in the scorching sun to fetch water at the dams. See those mountains over there
– Muuni, Kwa Mumbe and Maatha, the dams are there” Lydia says, pointing at
the mountains. 

“Sometimes at the dams, you’re forced to wait for more than five hours for the water to seep through the bed.” The resident of Kwa Kivoko village, Emali, Makueni County, added.

Lydia, a mother of three, buys water at the stones
collection points at Ksh 3 per 20 kg jerry can, only when her budget allows. Together
with her family, she is forced to use two jerry cans a day.

According to data by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA),  women and girls in low-income countries spend forty billion hours annually collecting water. Having a clean water source close to home means women and girls no longer have to spend hours a day fetching water. Instead, they now focus on family, school and earning a decent income.

Lydia is among thousands of women across Kenya who face
significant challenges related to water. These include drinking and using
unclean water and the need to travel great distances each day for hours to
fetch water.

However, for Lydia and many other women in Kwa Kivoko
village, shortages of water interfere with the running of their businesses as
more time is spent in search of water. Lydia, who sells vegetables and fruits at
Mwanyani market, says while water
from the stone collections saves them some time, it often dries up. This
situation forces them to walk longer to the dams but most times, the water in
the dams is dirty, diseased and shared with cattle who drink directly.

“Other times, the situation in the dams gets worse,
and we are forced to walk two or three more kilometers. While some can use
donkeys to save time, people like me who cannot afford donkey are forced to
walk.” Lydia said.

Anne Thomas, a resident
and vegetable seller in the market, understands this struggle so well. She has
a problem with her legs, and whenever she walks, for long, her legs swell.
Today is such a day, so she is resting on the grass, devastated at the end of
the day, she won’t have Ksh 150 she usually makes in the market. Four yellow twenty-litre
jerry cans lay next to her.

“I didn’t have Ksh 20 to
buy water from the donkey sellers, and I couldn’t let my daughter skip classes
again. I had to come to fetch it myself.”

She further says water
from the donkey sellers is never guaranteed. So, most times, she’s forced to walk
for more kilometres.

But all this is about to
change thanks to Mwanyani Water Project. It aims to empower the community,
especially women and children, economically. The project will increase access
to clean water for domestic use and agriculture in Emali. Worth Ksh10
million, the project involves sinking of the Mwanyani borehole to produce over
nine cubic meters per hour. It will also have a pipeline extension to community
water points as well as schools and health facilities.

The initiative of New
Zealand’s Child Fund International and Makueni County Government will benefit over
500 households, and two primary schools with 906 children. Other beneficiaries
include one secondary school with 420 children and ECD centres with over 100
children. A health centre and supply water to be constructed Mwanyani Milk
Collection Centre will also benefit from the scheme.

In line with ChildFund’s particular interest in
children, President Anne Goddard said water and education play a critical role
in economic growth.

“Children can spend more time in schools and mothers
can do more. With water, residents can engage in more revenue-generating
activities and improve their living standards.” Goddard said.

She added that access to water would also help to
improve hygiene and sanitation and also help save money that would otherwise be
used in hospitals.

“Clean treated water will
reduce diseases,” she said.

In Kenya, residents in areas with water scarcity are exposed to waterborne diseases like amoeba, cholera and typhoid.

United
Nations data estimates that only 56 percent of the Kenyan population has access
to clean water. Approximately 80
percent of hospital attendance in Kenya due to preventable diseases and about
50 percent of these illnesses are water, sanitation and hygiene-related.

“Water will be nearer, and this will help
children a great deal,” she said. “By helping the children, we help
the mothers, and by helping the mothers, we help the whole community.” She
added.

Makueni First Lady Nazi
Kibwana thanked Child Fund for coming on board and improving
livelihoods, water and sanitation, education, child protection and health and
nutrition for people in her country.

“This project will help youths and
families start their businesses or train for marketable careers which can lead
to community-wide changes and opportunities.” She said.

“It will also increase
access to educational opportunities for all children and youth by supporting
the development of child-friendly ECD centres, capacity building caregivers on
responsive parenting, payment of bursaries for orphans and vulnerable children,
and providing life skills training and mentorship support to adolescents and
youth.”  She added.

The partnership is a
significant boost to Child Fund programmes already underway in Emali-Mulala
ward, in Makueni County. The Maasai and Kamba communities are targets  to reduce waterborne diseases and distances
to water points. The partnership will increase water availability for
agriculture and livestock, and expand learning time for children. The project
will strengthen community-based water management committee with over 30 percent
of both men and women representation.

The area experienced low rainfall and poor harvest last season. But residents are optimistic that the oncoming Mwanyani Water Project will help improve their lives. The water project is the fourth collaboration between the two. Child Fund has worked in Emali since 2002 in several projects across agriculture, health, education and skills empowerment. Currently, 3665 children are enrolled in the Child Fund’s Emali sponsorship program.

Emali is currently under a USD 970,991 grant by New Zealand Aid Program’s
grant of USD, which has been running for four years since June 2016 and is
expected to expire on May 2021. The donation is currently being used in
different ventures connected with child development – such as the Agriculture Dairy and
Economic Development and the Maka Emali
Crafts projects.

Emali is home to two distinct ethnic
groups: the Maasai and the Kamba. The Maasai are primarily pastoralists, whose
traditionally nomadic lifestyle revolves around their relationship with their
cattle. While the Kamba are crop farmers, cultivating small household plots. In
Emali, climate change has altered the traditional cycle of rainy and dry
seasons on which both Maasai and Kamba base their farming systems. When
unpredicted droughts and heavy rains occur, farmers experience damage and loss
of their precious crops and livestock. Farming households have limited assets
or alternative livelihoods to fall back on when these events occur. They
struggle to find adequate nutrition, let alone pay for things such as school
fees and healthcare.

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