It was a sunny Thursday afternoon at Munjeche Primary School in Khwisero, Kenya. The teachers and parents of the Project Management Committee surrounded the 140-meter borehole in excitement and anticipation. It was the final day of installation. It was the first day of a healthier school and happier children. Community members helped the contractor guide the pipes into the ground and assemble the plating to complete the hand pump of the well. Cheering and laughter followed the first pump of crystal clear water and five minutes later a line of eager school kids with jericans (water-carrying buckets proportional to the child’s size) extended the length of the playground. In that moment, the past five years of H2O for Hope’s work seemed like a minor price to pay for the number of lives that were being changed in front of my eyes.

This summer I spent a month in Khwisero on behalf of our local organization, H2O for Hope, in conjunction with the Engineers Without Borders campus chapter at Montana State University. Working with a few other EWB-MSU students and an young engineering professor, my mission was to assess our results, help out where I could, document the project through photos and film, and develop a clearer understanding of how to meet project goals going forward. 

I began by visiting the composting latrine at Emwiru Primary School, funded by H2O for Hope in 2011. The school has since seen a great improvement in health and cleanliness and even classroom performance. Our plans called for implementing two new borehole wells. Unfortunately, the borehole at Munjiti Primary School had insufficient water supply, so it was declared dry and collapsed. We will return next year to find a different solution to meeting the school’s needs.

My film and photo project was designed to capture the importance of the work being done in Khwisero but also the challenges that the project has faced. I conducted interviews with community leaders, teachers, students and clinicians, gaining a new perspective behind the lens of my camera.

Exploring different aspects of their vibrant culture and basic lifestyle, I cooked traditional dishes, like ugali and chipote, with my host families, learned important words and phrases in Kiswahili and Luhya, donned bold Kenyan fashions and played new games with the school children. These life experiences, beyond our daily work on water and sanitation, provided a deeper understanding of the people and their culture, which is vital to effective aid efforts.

The hardships that Khwiserians endure remain apparent in those communities that have not yet received clean water and sanitation projects. I sometimes joined a group of primary school girls on their long walk to fetch water.  Because the schools lack a nearby water source, water must be carried from far away springs or streams.  By tradition, this task falls exclusively to the girls of the school, while the boys stay in class.  The girls carried heavy buckets on their heads that I could barely manage to carry with both arms. The trails we used to get to the spring were steep and rocky and even without a heavy bucket it was a challenge to stay on my feet. This daily burden on young girls, who must sacrifice hours of their education to get water via unsafe paths, is an important dimension of the water crisis. The other chief part of the water problem is that the water being fetched is contaminated and often causes illnesses that take kids out of school for up to a month, according to the Health and Sanitation Teachers.

The need is obvious, but the method to meet it is not as clear. Behind the newly implemented well at Munjeche sat a failed project built by an aid organization that neglected to educate the school about how to maintain it, causing it to break down the following year. I wondered how our project would be different and what would allow our well to flourish and serve the school for years to come. Foreign aid is a complex undertaking; unexpected challenges are bound to arise and successful projects are determined by a constantly evolving model that adapts to the unique needs of each community.  The dearth of successful development in rural Africa can be mostly attributed to generic models that lack the key elements of education and community ownership.

I participated in a week of training for teachers and parents in which they discussed all aspects of the project including potential pitfalls and how to evade them. Their enthusiasm and investment in the well are sure to make it effective and long lasting. Everlyn, a teacher from Munjeche explained to me that the committee plans to make an even larger impact with the project by piping well water to a school bathroom and surrounding homes.

The Kenyans I got to know were jubilant and welcoming; many were some of the happiest people I have ever seen, despite their material poverty. It became clear to me that the objective of foreign aid should not be to try to make these people like us, but to give them the tools to lead healthier lives without losing their own values. The standards of health and living in Kenya, and in similar countries around the world, are too low, causing sickness and death while impeding education and economic development.  The situation demands our assistance, but it is important to realize that the people we are working with are capable, bright individuals who just need help removing the barrier of unclean water and poor sanitation.

The process requires many steps, but it starts at home, in compassionate communities with individuals who want strive to make a difference. When a sustainable clean water project is implemented, the benefits are innumerable; community members expressed their endless appreciation for the improvements. However, the problem is far from solved, and our work is far from over.

There are currently millions of people in Kenya who are still in desperate need of assistance. I saw shocking examples first hand—pit latrines overflowing with human waste and kids urinating and defecating in the bushes, men and women filling jericans in brown water holes, and students spending hours out of class. Eliminating these hazards is the first step towards a brighter future for the kids in Khwisero. Access to clean water and adequate sanitation has a domino effect that has the power to lift the whole community up. We have the financial resources they do not and it is up to us, acting carefully and prudently, to push over the first domino.