Here Comes (and Goes) the Rain

After months of drought, it’s finally raining here in Kenya! While it will take much more rain to restock what has been lost, there is hope now that the rains have begun. In tropical regions near the equator like Kenya, there are no seasons save for the rainy and dry seasons. For people to have water all year round, there needs to be adequate storage facilities for the water.

To give you an idea of the disparity in storage: Kenya has about 3 cubic meters of storage space for water per person, while the US has about 7,000 cubic meters per person (Source: KTN, Local News). If people do not have such basic access to water year-round, any development project will be drastically hindered.

Unfortunately, this is only half the story. Many storage tanks have been built, and many have fallen into disrepair, too. Primarily this is due to lack of ownership by anyone to maintain the facilities. Oftentimes, a development agency will come in and build a storage facility and then move on. The community does not assume ownership, and so no one takes responsibility for maintenance.

Church World Service not only builds the hard but also the soft structures of development, training committees elected by the community to manage their water resources. Hopefully this training and sense of ownership will provide a sustainable method, leaving the community in charge and empowered to move forward.