Kenyan communities transformed

Mwerera Rain Catchment Project

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The lives of a number of Kenyan communities have been transformed by two Middleton Rotary Club projects.

Project co-ordinator John Brooker has just returned from visiting Kenya, seeing how the communities have changed since the projects were completed.

The first, the Mwerera Rain Catchment Project, was completed in February and provides clean water for about 1,800 people in Mwerera.

This entailed the installation of two water tanks in the village, which catch rainwater and flow to a nearby kiosk, where villagers can access the clean water.

Families must register for the service with a one off payment of 200 Kenyan Shillings (about £1.80).

The kiosk is open two days-a-week for families to come and take up to 40 litres of water per day.

Apart from the obvious benefits of clean drinking water, local women said this has helped them greatly in other ways.

They don’t have to spend up to eight hours a day searching for water, which means they can now do other jobs to help themselves and their families.

The problems associated with carrying large amounts of water such as neck, chest and back pains have eased and headaches due to dehydration have gone.

Additionally, children no longer suffer from worms-one of the problems associated with dirty water.

The second, was the construction of a foot bridge between the villages of Kajuki and Mutino.

The two are separated by the Nithi River and it was 30 miles from each village to the nearest safe crossing point.

In rainy season the river could reach over two metres high.

Often in emergencies people would try to cross the river to get help, but as many as 50 lives were lost a year attempting this.

John said: "Its a tragedy that this many people would die every year, just trying to help other people."

But the completion of the bridge has changed the lives of people from both sides and has galvanised the wider community beyond the two villages.

Children are able to go to schools either side of the bridge and school attendances have doubled since its completion.

The Kajuki market has seen trade increase dramatically with more and more people coming from Mutino and afar to buy goods.

Kajuki members have bought land in the more fertile Mutino, to grow crops to feed themselves.

The bridge has opened up Kajuki’s transport links to Chuka, Meru and Nairobi for the people of Mutino.

The structure of the bridge has also set the standard for the construction of future bridges in other areas, with senior government officials coming to look at the quality of the structure.

Such is the success of the bridge, people are moving from surrounding areas to be nearer the bridge and the benefits that the newly united communities enjoy.

Stuart Sawle of the Middleton Rotary Club said: “The work is an example of the real and practical help that Rotarians can give all over the world and that it is not just a case of sending money.”