Stephanie Ng's Visit- May 2012

As we approached the well, Paul and Lucas pointed to a very deep hole and informed me that this was where the women used to get water from. The hole is many feet deep and I could imagine someone being hurt if livestock or someone else accidently fell in or if the hole caved in while they were fetching water. When we first arrived at the well no one was present but soon after we took the GPS coordinates we were greeted by several women and many children who were willing to answer our questions.

The women told us that the hole we spotted on our way to the well had not been a sufficient water source before this well. Consequently, they used to normally walk a total of six hours to get water from shallow hand dug holes. When Lucas asked how long it takes them to come to the well, they laughed and said less than a minute! The farthest person that uses this well walks only one hour total each day. They are very appreciative of the fact that because of this well they no longer have to walk so far to find water – this well has truly relieved this burden and all the stress that comes with worrying whether they will have enough water each day to keep their family and livestock alive. Moreover, the livestock used to have to walk as far as the women to get enough water to drink and sadly many died along the way. Now that this well is so close to their homestead, the women are happy to say that none of their livestock die from lack of water. With the time saved, women can now go to the market to trade and sell their livestock. Because of this well, the community was able to start their own nursery which has about 50 little children! The women said that there are more girls than boys going to school in general.

When asked what were the major issues plaguing this community, the women replied that there really is no dire problem now- because of this well, they now have clean water for drinking and cooking. The only thing they could think of was that the nursery does not have a permanent structure. But they conveyed that they are grateful that they could even be facing this problem.

When asked if the well has had any problems, the women only cited a problem with the rubbers a year ago which was replaced by Paul, the person in charge of maintaining all of our wells. In order to pay for any breakage, each household has agreed to contribute a certain amount depending on the cost of that particular part; in the case of the rubber, each household contributed 100 shillings. Since then there has been no problems.

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