A ‘dam’ fine way to support your fellow Kenyans. – come on Diaspora make a donation!
By: KLN and Agencies
A Kenyan man and child ferrying firewood. Picture courtesy of Kenyan London News
With 3.8 million people currently experiencing food shortages in Kenya, home is at the forefront of our minds more than ever.
Some are saying it is the worst drought since 2000, some even longer. The worst affected areas are in the semi-arid south-east regions as well as some parts of central Kenya. In many places, farmers are in their third consecutive failed harvest.
The World Food Programme (WFP) estimates that $135m will be needed to tackle the crisis in the short-term. But what about the long-term? Food shortages and droughts seem to be coming more and more frequently in recent years, and scientists are predicting it will only get worse with climate change. What can effectively be done in the face of such difficulties?
WFP spokeswoman Gabrielle Menezes proposes that the best solution is to fund long-term projects to help farmers resist poor harvests, like breeding drought resistant seeds or funding irrigation projects. “These are the programmes that can make a real difference for the future and prevent crises like this one” she said. [Associated Press article]
Kenya London News staffer Agnes Gitau recently met an organisation supporting community groups in Ukambani to do just this. Excellent Development is a registered charity in the UK and Kenya that works with self-help groups to build sand dams, terrace land and plant trees, improving their water and food security.
Farming support such as the provision of drought-resistant seeds and training in techniques such as intercropping and zero-grazing enable communities to build up their resilience to droughts and create security. Today, launching a special partnership between Excellent Development and Kenya London News, we are offering you a unique opportunity to donate to support one such community who are ready to change things for themselves.
‘Excellent Development’ originates from the renowned Utooni Development Project, a community self-help group established in 1978 in Kola village, Machakos, by six families who came together to solve the problem of water in their village. One of the key instigators was one Joshua Mukusya.
As the eldest son in his family, Joshua Mukusya had immense cultural responsibilities. He needed to take care of his mother and their family. Whilst at primary school he used to be responsible for collecting water very early in the morning and at 3pm in the afternoon, after school.
As Joshua recounted: “There was a spring 4km away but during the frequent droughts the nearest source of water was 8km away – a long way to walk twice a day. When I was 20 years old I promised my parents that I would do something about water because I didn’t want my children to be walking all that way every day”.
“In the early 1970s, I discovered these very small barrages in the rivers that had been put there by the British government. I noticed how much these barrages changed the area where they were put – they slowed soil erosion and there was moisture around when other places were dry. So I started to think that if they were bigger that they could hold water and benefit the community even more.”
He was right. By building a reinforced concrete wall across a seasonal river bed, Joshua found he could trap water and sand when it rained – the sand filters the water clean and prevents it from evaporating so it is available to be used all year round. Although each dam captures less than 3% of the rainwater that flows over it, this equates to several million litres – enough for people, animals and crops. And each time it rains, the sand dam is refilled.
And so the ‘excellent’ concept of transforming lives and landscapes using sand dams was born. Land terracing and tree planting were added to boost soil and water conservation even more, creating opportunities for people to generate income through agriculture.
Kwatuta Self Help Group have been working with Excellent Development since 2005. They describe their journey with Excellent Development: “Before the sand dams were constructed water was scarce and we would wake up at three in the morning so as to make it in time to the water point which was about 3km away. This meant that the fetching of water took almost half of our day and thus neglecting other household chores. There were long queues at the water point and at the end of the day one would be too tired to do anything else. Since the sand dams were built things have changed. There has been an increase in the quantity of water for domestic use and for the watering of our livestock.
“There is also now available water for watering food crops such as vegetables and also the trees that we are planting. As a group we started growing of watermelons as a form of income generation. We used the water from the sand dam and we were able to harvest watermelons and divided the profit amongst each group member. There remained some money which we are now lending to each other and returning with some interest.”
Excellent Development Kenya, lead by Joshua, has helped over 60 community groups build more than 200 sand dams, representing over 100,000 people who now have access to clean water all year round, and are able to use this water to grow food.
“If my father could come back from his grave, he would not recognise his home and this valley” said Joshua. “When he died in 1978, there were very few trees and the area was very dry. We had problems getting enough food to eat. I love the dams more than anything, because they came out of nowhere. We have created our own springs for our own people.”
It is evident that the freeing up of a little time and less worry about meeting basic needs frees up our entrepreneurial spirit. After that, the sky’s the limit! Other communities are regularly queuing up to build sand dams, having seen the effect it has had on their neighbours.
One such community is Wendano Wa Kimangau community in Mwala district. Kenya London News is partnering with Excellent Development to support the 29 strong group to build a sand dam which will benefit the wider community of 6,000 people. The total cost is £7,922 – please give generously to this excellent cause! Our appeal is to you our dear readers to donate generously. These are our people, we can not afford to look away.
Help Wendano Wa Kimangau build water and food security for their community – donate here through secure online donations site JustGiving. Every week we will give you an update of how much we have raised towards this project! Please click or log on to this site to donate.
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