Blog Action Day 2010 - Water

The 15th October is Blog Action Day and the theme for 2010 is water so I thought I would take action and blog about this topic.
 

In September I attended the graduation ceremony at our Seed of Hope Centre in Kangweni, Kitui. This is an area which is known to be dry and where we have recently worked on some water projects thanks to the Dunfermline branch of the Rotary Club. With their support, the well where water is drawn from has been covered over and fitted with a handpump making it much easier and safer for water to be drawn. Gutters have also been attached to the building and a tank provided to collect any rainwater that falls. Unfortunately, there has been no rain yet but apparently the next rains are due this month so at least the centre is prepared to make the most of them.
 

Kitui Seed of Hope is located on a sizeable piece of land which could be a great source of income....if only there was enough water. One of the teachers took me for a walk before the graduation ceremony and my eyes were really opened to how dependent they are on something that many in the world take for granted. As we visited the cowshed I was told that the cow was not as healthy as it should be because there was no grass growing to feed it. At the back of the building some vegetables were growing which are used to provide lunch for the students but they have been limited as to the volumes they can grow because of the lack of water. A local youth group volunteered to dig a fish pond for free so that it could be used as an income generating project but it lies empty as there is no water to fill it. Another income generating activity that was set up was bee-keeping – but with no water, there are very few flowers in the area so the production of honey is very poor.
 

Everything we spoke of came back to that same thing....water.
 

When some people think of sunshine and heat they think of water...swimming pools, waterslides at theme parks, paddling pools, water fights with water guns. No matter how hot it gets, they don’t have to worry about where they will find water for drinking and cooking or that they might go hungry if they are unable to irrigate the crops that feed their families. In one shocking story which featured in the news in Kenya recently, a family faced with starvation due to drought was forced to eat the dog which lived in their compound. When you compare the two extremes you realise that much more needs to be done to raise awareness of the importance of water and the impact that its scarcity has in some parts of the world.