This water tank serves more than 2,000 people. Photo: Stephen H. Padre, ACT
It’s a strange convergence of pursuits in the same place — one group of people looking to the ground and another group looking toward the sky, both expecting sustenance from rare commodities that each source could bring forth.
The prospect of finding gold in the soil attracted people to this spot in the middle of a vast, desolate plain in northwestern Kenya in the early 1990s. As nomadic pastoralists, their constant search for water and pasture land to sustain their herds of livestock had become more difficult as drought conditions developed and have lingered since then.
So a group of families settled down and formed the village of Naduat, where they have tried to live off the land in a different way. Where the land failed them — in not providing enough stored rain water to enable them to sustain their traditional wandering livelihood — villagers have looked to the precious metal the land may yield instead as a means of support.
The villagers have not totally given up their original store of wealth and have kept their livestock, which is still an important source of food. However, the livestock — and the people themselves – still need water to survive.
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, in cooperation with Action by Churches Together (ACT) International, is assisted them in meeting some of their needs for this vital resource.
An 18,000-liter concrete water tank for the village has been constructed and arrangements have been made for water to be trucked in twice a week. While the villagers pin their hopes on the ground beneath their feet, ACT has put in place this short-term solution, hoping a more sustainable and natural end to the problem of the drought will come from the sky in the form of regular rains again in the coming weeks.
The water tank in Naduat sat empty late on a recent day. The supply of water, delivered a few days before, had been quickly used by villagers, and they were awaiting the next delivery the following day. The tank serves 2,000 people in the immediate vicinity and some of the other 11,000 people in the surrounding area.
When the water tank was constructed, ACT worked with villagers to organize a committee to oversee use of the water tank. The committee was composed of 42 elected members, 18 of whom are women. The committee collects a fee of five Kenyan shillings (US $0.07) for each 20-liter container that villagers take. The funds are used for purchasing more water and for maintenance of the tank. The tank was built with support from the government and funds from the villagers themselves.
One villager, Nicholas Ewoi, explaining the challenges the failure of rains have created, said, “The problem of water is too much because there is no economic activity to [enable us to] buy water and the water table is low.” He thanked ACT for providing a solution in the above-ground water tank.
In other parts of the district where the water table is higher, PDA has worked with the Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA) in responding to the drought by drilling or repairing boreholes to sustain communities during the drought. Before drilling began, PCEA provided extensive training to local village and tribal leaders responsible for maintaining the water supply.
Photo: Stephen H. Padre, ACT
In one community, two young men who brought their goats to the borehole spun the hand-operated well together on a recent morning. Although it took a lot of effort to produce a small stream of water, it was enough to fill a small trough that the goats lined up to drink from. After all had drunk, their owners led them on across a dry, sandy riverbed in search of a grazing spot.
PDA supported efforts have made it easier for villagers and pastoralists who are passing through the area to access water. But as the drought drags on and water becomes more and more scarce, it is being treated as something as precious as gold.
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