Kenya day 38 - Water Project completion

This morning I had my first sighting of Mount Kenya as the clouds cleared while I was out for my morning walk.

Mount Kenya - Point Lenana is behind the small peak on the right

Mount Kenya

The Kenyan government have made seven new villages on what was previously grazing land, and relocated groups of people into them. Each family gets a plot of land to build a home and plant a garden, and a bigger plot which can be used as a farm or as the location for a business. Sue's team have been helping to lay water pipes between some of the villages, making trenches so that the pipes are buried and joining lengths of pipe.

Inside the truck which is used to transport the volunteers

The road to the villages

 We spent most of the day at Village 4, where a water tank was installed so that the people don't have to walk 2km to the borehole and 2km back carrying 20 litres of water, four times a day. Understandably, they are very pleased! It's not just that they no longer have the long walk with a heavy load, they also gain a lot of time which can be used more productively, working on their farm plot, for example.

Walking to the new water tank site

Checking the pipes

The water tank was fitted with a water inlet and a tap and then placed on its plinth and connected up. Some dignitaries arrived to see the completed work and we heard some very long speeches. Fortunately we were able to sit down for most of the time! A very old lady, said to be about 100 years old, brought bananas to sell to the crowd and joined in the celebrations, shouting "Hallelujah" in joy that the water tank was operational.

The plinth for the tank

Inside the tank, fitting the tap

Putting the tank in position

Long speeches and some dancing

The old lady was delighted with the water tank

The village school

When we got back to the truck, Eva had made lunch - salad and pasta and fruit for after - which was fortunate as time had run on and we were all rather hot and hungry. It turns out that the team are from Northern Ireland, not far from Banbridge...

In the evening, I was really dozy - it must have been all that fresh air and sunshine!