Preparation for Well Drill Owned by the Community
It’s almost that time of year again…drilling time! Maji-Tech, our drillers, are set to come and drill a new well in a village called Nyangiti. So, we’ve been busy working with the community to get ready to drill. This includes having meals ready for the drillers who will be hard at work, providing lodging and security, scraping together a sand pile for cement, and hauling the water that will be needed to drill the well (a little ironic that you need water to get water).
The coolest part about this is that all the grunt work has so far been done and planned by the community itself. We’ve been working with the well committee (voted by the community) which seems to understand that they are responsible for the well. They’re even planning an opening ceremony which includes a Q&A session…and fundraising! Of course, we will still help and guide this committee, but they have taken the maintenance of the well quite seriously so far. The only part that Nuru is helping out with is marketing the well, and only because the Kenyan way of marketing an event is so fun. We’re just going to ride around town with the biggest loudspeakers money can rent and blast our message of clean water and community ownership of the well. You can run, but you can’t hide.
Of course, another reason we’re so excited about the new well in Nyangiti is that our Field Officer there, Maurice, has been a great leader. He is always telling others in his community about the importance of clean water and even fetches water from the Nuru wells (keep in mind he lives 30 minutes away from the nearest well currently). Furthermore, even though the initial wells weren’t drilled near his home, he doesn’t complain about how hard it’s been to get clean water. It’s through this kind of leader that Nuru can impact a whole community, and empower it to break out of poverty.
If everything goes according to plan….something like this will be awaiting the drillers.
I appreciate this news alot and the entire Nuru’s effort of providing sanitation and hygiene services to this kenyan community. It’s not surprising that water is used to get water going by the age-long hausa (a major Nigerian language) proverb: “It takes the use of water in the tommy to draw water from a well”.
Meanwhile, this Nuru’s model can be beneficial to down-trodden Nigeria’s rural poor. A lot of well drillers will be more than willing to undertake in such a community-driven effort so that at the end of the day they can be treated to a sumptouos meal as a mark of recognition for their efforts, under supervision of people even more committed than Maurice.
Nigerian poor communities would be looking forward to your obliging this request as they are equally in need. What is good for the goose, they say is equally good for the gander.
Isah,
Thanks for commenting on this blog and for your interest in Nuru! It’s great to get your feedback on our community-led approach.
Although we recognize that there are urgent needs in water, sanitation and hygiene all over the world, I wanted to let you know that we are currently focused on our efforts in Kenya and do not have plans to start a project in Nigeria. If you’re interested in starting a program in your community, you can find some very practical tools at our partner CAWST’s website: http://www.cawst.org/.
Thanks again for writing!
Nicole Scott
Director of Partnerships and Training
Nuru International