Day 4b....the hard work begins!

 

Clean water isn’t a luxury—it’s a basic human right.

I think we all know this and why but if you'd like more information you can read

http://www.freethechildren.com/international-programming/our-model/clean-water-and-sanitation/

 

After meeting Mama Jane and the other Mamas (and before lunch I might add) we all grabbed a mitungi and headed down to the river to fetch water. Prior to FTC drilling boreholes for access to clean water, everyone used to drink the water from the river (where they also bathed, washed clothes, and watered their animals). As you can imagine, this led to numerous diseases and illnesses (and with no access to medical aid...well, you get the idea).

 

Eventually, the local people started boiling the water to make it safe to drink but this was not only time consuming it was impractical given the limited firewood. Thankfully, most people now only have to fetch water from the river for cleaning and watering their gardens etc. However, depending on how far you live from the river, this could still take a good chunk of your day, especially since most women have to go several times in one day.

 

And it's bloody heavy....as we soon found out!



 

 

Fetching water by the river

Me and my mitungi

Mama Jane and her daughter tying the ropes

Here we go, 50lbs on my back!

I shared the work with Connor (and Olaf)

Enough water to last Mama Jane a day or two

 

 After lunch we headed off to the Kasaruni Girl's high school to get our hands dirty! 

Side note: Since 2003, primary (elementary) school has been free to all children but highschool is not. As I mentioned before, girls are usually the ones that don't move on to highschool due to money constraints, family obligations, or being married off. The girls at this highschool are sponsored for $2,500 per year which includes room and board. In a later post I will talk about how amazing these young women are.

 

 

Today we were helping lay the foundation for a new girl's dormitory. I don't know anything about construction (in Canada or in Kenya) so had no idea what to expect... but it sure wasn't moving rocks!

 

Before - outside of the soon to be new building

Mid-way through

Many hands makes light work

 

Wilfred shows the next steps which is breaking the rocks with a sledge hammer

 

Today was just a taste of what the fundis (craftsmen or in this case construction workers) have to do every day. It was hard work but so rewarding! We all came to Kenya to help in some small way and today we actually got to accomplish this goal in just a couple of short hours. With so many of us (and some of our guys worked like machines!) we saved the fundis 2-3 days worth of work. I felt really good afterwards...and slept like a baby!

 

Priceless....

 

One of my highlights of the whole trip was a wonderful tradition we had at Bogani where we would go around the tables after dinner and each say our "highlight of the day". Sometimes these were funny or surprising but more often than not it was something or someone who had touched our heart that day - there was never any shortage of these moments.

 

The highlight of today for me (and many of us) was the sheer enthusiasm the kids had when our lorry was driving down the road. They would coming running through the fields screaming "Jambo" at us with huge smiles on their faces. And we would yell jambo back at them and wave. You would think this got old after a while but it was so much fun! (Although this did get me into trouble on one day, I'll tell you about it later).

 

In the picture above, one of the little local girls actually came up and held Thea and Mary's hands during the water walk. It was such a precious moment. I see now why I wrote in my journal that today was "priceless".