A Pipeline and a Tank By Edwin Malet, Charles Lyddane, Paul Woodruff, and Michael and Kay Johnson © 2012, Edwin Malet

Mwingi, Kenya

The Mwingi district is in an eastern province, one of 71, in Kenya. Its population is slightly over 300 thousand. The people, called the Akamba (also called “Kamba”), are highly regarded for woodcarving, beekeeping and acrobatic dancing. Originally hunters, then farmers, they today mostly herd cattle and goats. Or try. Actually, since the late 20th century, the primary industry has been farming. The area has become so dry over the years it is very difficult to work. Arid most of the year, yet water exists 50 feet under the ground.

About 120 years ago, since the Europeans first had contact with the Akamba, the forest cover and topsoil have largely disappeared. It’s dry. Dusty. Hot. The cows are starvation skinny and the crops are very sparse. There was less rain than expected in the past several years. And the rains are fickle. They occur --- when they occur -- mostly during the spring and autumn. Typically, they amount to only 10 inches per year. There are no reservoirs. Riverbeds serve to store water through the dry season. One hopes.

In Mwingi, water is precious. About 80% of the people get their water from “unimproved sources”: ponds, streams, wells, hand-dug holes. More than half live over an hour from their traditional source of drinking water: many farther. Mostly women – the men are busy with “more important matters” -- walk 5 to 10 kilometers each way each day to fetch water for their families. The water in the jerry can is expected to satisfy all of a family’s needs, including drinking, cooking, washing, and bathing. The five-gallon jerry cans, when filled, weigh about 40 pounds. They are carried on their backs. Some own donkeys and carts.

An Unprepared Place

Ngieni is an area consisting of three villages, 270 kilometers east of Nairobi, on the Nairobi-Mwingi-Nuu Road. As of 1999, about 25,000 people lived in Nuu. About 4,000 lived in Ngieni. They are poor. Very poor. Their income is estimated at 85 cents per day. Yet they are not wholly illiterate. About half to three-quarters can read. About 3 in 5 are teenagers or children. Elders are few and far between: dead of AIDS, malaria, and other medical problems that would be treatable elsewhere.

There is no real market. Subsistence farming and pastoral living, following a century of British colonial rule and agricultural practices – they tended to remove forest, overgraze, and plant coffee and maize -- have destroyed the soil. The economy of Ngieni is basic at best: mostly small metal or straw-roof huts serve as houses. On Saturdays, a few sometimes gather at the market centre and trade. Maize, beans, cow peas, sorghum, millet, castor oil, seeds, etc. The few livestock – there are under a thousand total -- are occasionally slaughtered, but only for special occasions and emergencies. Others are sold for tuition or for dowry in marriages.

There are no doctors in the area. Not regularly anyway. Nurses and other health care professionals in some cases are a day’s walk. Illnesses include malaria, upper respiratory infections, diarrhea, skin diseases, and cataracts. Children with fever are routinely treated for malaria, even though it could be anything from teething to pneumonia, or simple dehydration from diarrhea caused by bad water.

The nearest hospital is too far for people to consider in an emergency. The clinics are basic at best, providing only for treatment of the endemic 'malaria', the occasional dehydrated person or wound care. Obstructed labor is a death sentence, often for both mother and child.

Education is minimal. Primary school is as good as it gets for over 90% of the children. Books are scarce. Just finding them remains a challenge for the teachers. There are only a few schools. The largest would not meet the standards of an American garage. It is a permanent structure made of sheet metal roofing, wooden rafters, and bricks, made by hand by the community.

Non-governmental organizations help somewhat. These include the Catholic Church, the Presbyterian Church, Ambassadors Development Agency, World Vision, World Gospel Mission and others. They are well-meaning, but lack the resources to put the lives of these destitute people on a positive trajectory.

Michael and Kay Johnson

Michael and Kay Johnson had served as Christian missionaries in Kenya for over 10 years prior to working in Ngieni. Michael was a surgeon from Philadelphia. He had graduated from Lawrence University, and went to medical school at the University of Michigan. Kay, his wife, acquired an MBA from Walden University. Their primary goal in Kenya was missionary: “to show God's love to people by helping them find the essential resources for living, food and water.” They went to deliver medical care within a Christian framework.

In addition, they were involved with providing the essential care for orphans and street children in Nairobi and its suburbs. They worked to feed, clothe, educate and provide medical care for these 'orphaned and vulnerable children'. They mobilized volunteers from within Kenya, the US and around the world who supported them financially and operationally. But, by the early 2000s, they recognized their efforts were being swamped by demand.

By 2005, it was apparent to the Johnsons that the problem of the orphans was big and getting bigger. Michael and Kay wanted to help the orphanages upgrade some of the children into stable homes with adoptive or foster Kenyan parents. They sought willing families to adopt these children and had some success. But they recognized that, for most Kenyans, the burden of caring for another child would be tremendous.

Furthermore, there was concern for the children. For some foster parents, it was a sign of wealth to be able to care for another’s child. But, at the same time, it wasn’t unusual for an adopted child to be turned into an extra wife or servant.

They needed a long-term solution. The key to Michael’s plan was to keep the kids in -- or return the kids to -- Ngieni. The slums of Nairobi were no place to aspire to. And it was getting worse. The people needed to stay. Ngieni had to be made habitable. To begin, the water needed to flow.

Charlie

What became known as the Wikya- Kilanani Water Project really started with Charlie Lyddane, a Vice-President of Merrill Lynch from Malvern, Pennsylvania. Charlie’s involvement with Kenya had begun as early as 2000, when he had heard Michael Johnson speak at his church, Paoli Presbyterian, about the need for medical equipment and supplies. At first, he had given money. Later, he sent Michael an email and asked to work with him. Johnson was happy to get help.

The initial need was medical supplies and money. The people of Charlie’s church were very generous. In 2003, they jammed a 40-foot shipping container full of supplies and hospital- donated equipment. Charlie and his daughter Amy traveled to Kenya to deliver the container. Over the next several years, he would return several times more. He fell in love with the people of Kenya.

In 2004, Dr. Johnson again needed some medical books for the newly trained doctors at his Kenyan hospital. Charlie was now a member of the West Chester Rotary. He got librarians at Johns Hopkins and the University of Pennsylvania to donate the books. Charlie and Rotarian Victor Abdala drove those books to Atlanta and had them sent to Johnson. The following year, Charlie’s wife Moreley and her friend Lori Fetrow sent 6,000 children’s books to Kenya. Barnes and Noble, several elementary schools and the Paoli Presbyterian Church collected and donated books. The shipping was done by the Parole, Maryland Rotary Club program called Books for International Goodwill (BIG) run by Steve Frantzich and the Parole Club. The West Chester Rotary Club paid the shipping and again made a sizeable donation to BIG when their program shipped their 4 millionth book a year later.

A Pipeline and a Tank

Charlie had stayed with the Johnsons on his first trip in 2002. Kay told him about this desperately arid area they served. The place was bone dry during most of the year.

They spoke of women who got their families water by walking several miles. There they would dig in a dry river bed and ladle out water a cup at a time. On the backs of donkeys, they hauled it back in old 5 gallon plastic cooking oil cans, if they were lucky enough to have a donkey. Sometimes they spent the whole day fetching water. Their lives were miserable and they had trouble taking care of their kids. The kids weren’t able to go to school and no one was well fed or had enough water. None of them had received much medical care either.

The Johnsons had an idea. Now it was Charlie’s too. According to the Johnsons, Ngieni needed at first a pipeline and a tank. This would become the seed for upgrading the water system to the schools, the establishment of basic health care, the creation of a cooperative marketing entity, and improving the agricultural practices. Ultimately, the orphans of Nuu could be settled and cared for in a stable environment.

Charlie figured they “only needed $250 thousand.” A pipe line a nd a tank. The water could flow downhill. They had shown him the mountain spring where the water came to the surface amid the mangoes. On the plane home, he wondered how to raise the money. But he had no idea.

The Rotary

Charlie discussed the water project idea with Paul Woodruff, CEO of ERM, a major environmental engineering consulting firm, a member of the Paoli Presbyterian church, and a member of the West Chester Rotary since 1972. He told Charlie that raising the money would be “no problem.” He encouraged Charlie to join Rotary and work with him on the project. Paul had been involved in water projects in the past and was eager to take on this new project. The Rotary Club of West Chester, then with about 120 members, has a reputation as an active club and was well acquainted with international projects.

Soon they introduced Dr. Johnson to the club and the members whole-heartedly embraced the project. Michael’s presentation, complete Rotary International funding with photos of Ngieni and its hungry, for the Wikya-Kilanani malnourished people, was deeply moving. project was developed The Q&A focused on “what we can do.” The through a series of Matching answer was straightforward. Food and Grants, a Global Grant and a medicine, in the short term. Long-term, it was 3H Grant. water: for the people, the crops, and the animals. It seemed so simple, and would In 2005 and 2007, RI make such a big difference. A pipe line a nd a provided Matching Grants of tank…. $45 thousand out of $210 thousand. Most of that money With Johnson’s, Mambo’s and ultimately was invested in water RI’s help, a local collection and delivery. Kenyan sponsor was identified: the Rotary Club of Nairobi South. The club would In 2009, a 3H Grant of oversee and monitor the project locally. nearly $300,000 enabled the community to enhance medical Francis Asiema was a past president of the S. services, facilitated the Nairobi club. He served as the project adoption of orphans in manager for his club on this project from the Nairobi, expanded the school beginning. He recruited other members of the building and furnishings, club to oversee the accounting, legal work for equipped the bath and the adoption, and handled all the paper work showers facilities, to get through the Rotary bureaucracy, developed the agricultural including writing all the reports required by coop and drip irrigation Rotary. t f th it

For planning and funding purposes, Paul actually divided the project into four phases and anticipated a time line of 7-8 years. In the first stage, the project sought a matching grant. It would seek another matching grant to finance its second phase. And it would seek a 3-H Grant for its third phase. Finally, it would seek a World Grant, in which the baton would be passed to the Clarkston, Michigan club as a qualified pilot district club.

For now, Paul and Charlie “took the show on the road,” presenting at more than 25 clubs around Chester County, Pennsylvania. The money came in chunks large and small. The West Chester Rotary Club would supply about one-quarter of the initial $135 thousand. Environmental Resource Management, Paul’s company and employees, through its charitable arm, the ERM Foundation, contributed a sizeable amount: about $75 thousand. The Gundaker Fund, representing 52 clubs in southeast Pennsylvania, also contributed about $20 thousand. And generous contributions also came in from the Ardmore, Chesterbrook, Bala Cynwyd-Narberth, Coatesville, Longwood and the Twin Valley Rotary Clubs. Ultimately, the funds were raised.

Construction

As described in the first application for funds, the purpose of the Wikya-Kilanani project – it was named after the hills where the springs were located -- was to provide “a dependable, year-round water supply to three villages.” A collection box, storage tanks, water kiosks and piping had to be constructed and water would be gravity fed to each of the three villages, as well as five cattle troughs. The people of Ngieni would provide the land; the labor for construction, operation and maintenance; and the local materials such as sand and ballast. Upon completion, it would meet the needs of more than 4000 people and 900 head of cattle.

As conceived, the water project was part of a larger master plan in part developed by the local villages with the assistance of Ambassadors’ Development Agency (the “ADA”), a Kenyan Non-Government Organization, headed by Eliud Mambo, who volunteered his service. Mambo owned an insurance company and was soon a member of the Nairobi South Rotary Club.

The project, while it provided water kiosks where the local women could go quickly and get many gallons of fresh clean water in a few minutes also would eventually include a school, a medical dispensary, and doctors who would visit every ten days or so. There would also be drip-feeders and gardens growing fresh vegetables, producing food and relieving the women of Ngieni from their daily drudgery fetching and carrying water. But it would all begin with clean water, and a small pipeline that would carry it from the spring on the mountainside.

Eliud Mambo, a community leader, assembled the construction crew: partly voluntary from the community, partly paid. In Charlie Lyddane’s experience, reflecting back, it was “crazy.” In the U.S., he pointed out, if you needed gravel, you’d order it; a truck would dump it where you needed it. In Ngieni, they made it; rocks from a field chipped up with hammers and small chisels. Same with bricks. Out of mud, in much the same way it was made thousands of years ago. In much the same way, by hand and pick and shovel, the crew dug a four kilometer trench and laid the pipeline.

The pipe was 2 inches in diameter, sometimes out of PVC and sometimes out of iron, depending on whether it passed through gravel or sand. And then they built and positioned the two large concrete settling tanks. And they attached the plumbing and meters. And then built a fence around the outlets for protection of the water source from animal waste that might foul the water A pipeline and a tank. Actually, two tanks, serving as both storage and break pressure tanks. Also, two cattle troughs and two kiosks, fitted with meters. The whole project took several months.

Today a woman sits at the kiosk and measures the water, charging a couple of shillings or so to fill a can. The charge is small. It mainly imposes a sense of value and covers the maintenance.

Plans for the Future

It was mid-2007 when the water first flowed through the Wikya Springs pipeline. In later years, the system would be expanded with pumps and rain tanks. Public showers would be added. By 2008, the “Prepared Place” looked forward to building libraries and primary schools for more than 1100 students, compared with 180 beforehand. Some had received drought resistant seeds, cattle and goats, as well as training in agricultural practices. A pair of medical dispensaries was stocked. The community is regularly visited by doctors and nurses.

With a second matching grant from Rotary Foundation Club of West Chester, a second pipeline was constructed and completed. This line joins the Wikya-Kilanani pipeline at Ngieni shopping centre. This Makeveti line supplies water to a Medical Clinic, Ngieni Primary School and also the school

QuickTime™ and a decompressor showers besides the water kiosks at the second are needed to see this picture. village of this project for community use. Water from the showers is used to irrigate a vegetable garden for the school. Along both the lines, the community at the site of the village water kiosks has established vegetable gardens. These gardens provide much needed addition to good nutrition in an otherwise very dry area.

A Global Grant from Rotary Foundation with support from Rotary Club of West Chester through their partner club the Rotary Club of Clarkston in Michigan has been sourced to take water to the third village at Iani. Along the way, water will be supplied to the proposed polytechnic school and at community water points. Cattle troughs have also been been established so that livestock can access water. This third phase will be completed in a few months time.

Still, there is much to be done. The HIV/AIDS epidemic has not subsided. Technical education to empower the young people with usable skills for self- reliance is much needed. Hence the need for the proposed polytechnic school.

However, this project has been a huge blessing to the people of Ngieni. Women now grow vegetables and orphans are getting loving homes; people have clean water to drink and their health and that of their livestock has improved.

On the whole, it could fairly be said that the lot of Ngieni was better. A Prepared Place is getting larger. The children of Ngieni are healthier and better fed. Fewer are destined for Nairobi slums. From his perspective, Charlie Lyddane says, the effort was “most worthwhile and rewarding.” In all respects, he and Paul Woodruff laud the Rotary Foundation, and describe it as a first class operation. “The folks we worked with at the Foundation were highly motivated people doing great work and managing the money trusted to them as if it where their own.”

Still, there is much to do, and the future of Ngieni remains uncertain. The AIDS epidemic has not subsided. Water remains in short supply. So long as this situation persists, the Akamba of Ngieni are in jeopardy. Yet the women spend time growing gardens and orphans are getting loving homes.