Water in Kenya

Connecting Broetje Employees and Partners to the Fruits of their Labor...One Fruit at a Time.

Bringing Water to Kirindon, Kenya

Rael Maritim, 68, is all smiles since Kamaget Sand Dam was built in Kirindon. With eight children and numerous grand children, Rael needs water close by.

Every year during the dry season, women like Rael make long treks to the river, as far as 3 to 6 miles away. They scoop out sand from the dry Kamaget stream, and the women sometimes fight and scramble for the scarce water found there.

Their livestock also make a long daily journey of 9 miles to the Mara River, passing through Maasai territory and causing ethnic clashes between the two communities. This has lead to loss of lives and halted some of the other development work in the area. "Once conflict started it was hard to end it and took long to heal and have peace again" explained Rael.

But "This water has given us rest and peace" quipped Esther, another beneficiary. Scooping sand and waiting for water to fill up would take time and cause delays in cooking lunch for the school children. During drought, only half of the water would make it home since they drunk part of it along the way to keep up their energy. "Now we are very thankful for this dam which is making life easier for us. It is closer and water fills quickly", said Rael.

To show how thankful they are for the water, the community promised to protect the source, which they have already fenced off. The project will not only help the parents, but also school children from Kigonor school and Kigilok school. The protected dam will through sand filtration clean the water making it good for the community and reducing waterborne diseases. The community expressed gratitude in their Kispigis language, saying "kogemwa Kongoi neo...baibai chitugul!" meaning we are so grateful and everybody is happy.

This water source will serve over 164 households (about 1000 people) with the possibility of adding more households.