We visit Ndandini and the Kyaithani school cluster - 19Sept 2012

Below is an extract of our day at Ndandini Village, taken from Jan's travelogue at www.travelwithjan.blogspot.com .

Also, click HERE to watch a video of our visit.

It's been 12 months since we last visited the community where our successful 300 foot deep clean water well was drilled back in June 2010. The well has been producing clean water since then and this year the sponsors' project completed a project with tractor and water bowser to distribute the water from the well to each of the 6 schools in the community and to the community greenhouse. Today we are visiting the community and the schools. We were awake before 4am after getting to bed at 1:30am! We were excited to be going back and see the results and take along some more computers and communications equipment.

Opening at 6am the breakfast buffet at the TRIBE was splendid - fresh fruits, cereals and pastries; cheeses and cold meats, and everything you would want for a hot breakfast: eggs to cooked to order, lamb and pork sausage, onion potato wedges, garlic spinach, coconut rice, stewed tomatoes, bacon, red bean stew and fresh juices, tea and wonderful Kenyan coffee. By 7am we were ready and waiting for Duncan (our Project Manager) and George, our taxi driver for the last many years who has spent many nights sleeping in his van in Ndandini while we slept in our tent.

By 730am our ride had arrived and we had packed our supplies for the day (water and cookies) and the supplies for the village. The traffic through Nairobi was very busy but nothing compared to the horrendously busy traffic heading into downtown. It was quite the ride for Jackie and Neil since they had arrived at sunset the previous night - the roads here are not for the faint of heart. By 8:45 we reached the Machakos turn off (on the Nairobi to Mombasa road) and took a 5 minute stop at the Quik Stop gas station to stretch our legs and straddle the holes in the floor, but the toilets were quite clean and well maintained. It was quite cloudy which was good for us since as soon as the sun started burning off the clouds, the temperatures rose rapidly!

The scenery gets very pretty here as you drive through the Chula hills - beautiful rock formations, and lots of stone everywhere with men sitting by the sides of the road with a hammer breaking the tones into smaller stones. Trucks come by to purchase the slabs of rocks and pebbles - in fact this is where our drilling rig stopped two years ago on the way to Ndandini to purchase sacks of gravel to pack around the drill casing. Much of the hillsides are terraced to retain the soil and grow produce.

KAMBA CARVINGS

Our next stop was at Wamunyu Craft workshop where we spent 30 minutes looking around the workshops where men from the Kamba tribe were sitting cross legged on the floor in the chips from all their wood carvings carving elephants, nativity scenes, and other items - making beautiful pieces with pretty crude adz and rasp. One chap was sawing through a tree trunk that was probably 18 inches diameter with a hand saw - no wonder he had such a slim waist - it was very hard work! There is also a showroom with finished goods - each with the number of the carver so that they receive the proceeds from any sales, less the 10% that they pay to the co-op.

This was our last stop before turning off the highway at KwaVonza (before Kitui) for the last 45 minute drive on the red dirt dusty road past Kusiani town into Kyaithani and the 5 primary schools that are part of our project. This just felt like coming home for Terry and I - we have been here so often now and notice any changes which are usually not many! Jackie and Neil were excited and so anticipating seeing and meeting the children and adults - but I'm not sure they expected the greeting that they would receive at our first stop which was the Nthilani Secondary School. The parents and children were lined up at the school gates waiting for us - just overwhelming and spectacular. They sang and danced as they welcomed us into the school yard. First let me tell you that the Kenya School Teachers who are on strike for better salaries - they earn about $179 per month (15,000 Kenya shillings)- so there have been no classes for the last 2 1/2 weeks. Because we were coming to visit, the school kids all put their school uniforms on, the parents put on their Sunday finest to come and meet us, and the teachers were also dressed in their best to meet us - it was so overwhelming and so special. Please do put a visit to our wonderful community on your bucket list for travel - we simply can't put words to the experience and the welcome that you will receive.

NTHILANI PRIMARY SCHOOL PUPILS

We first visited this dry and barren area with a wonderful group of friends and clients in 2007 - now we have made some progress with the help of our own Rotary Club: Rotary Club of Sunshine Coast - Sechelt BC Canada, and 27 other Rotary Clubs around the world, as well as our own wonderful supportive friends. The successful 300 feet deep well was drilled in June 2010 and this year as we visited the 6 schools in the cluster we are finally seeing positive results of providing clean water to the schools and all the community. We were told at each of the 6 schools how the clean water has meant healthy children and parents, and a vibrant community working together with hopes for the future. The last 6 years have been so full of challenges - some of them overwhelming at times, but today we saw so many smiling and happy faces - how we wish every sponsor could have been with us to see them!

MUUSINI SCHOOL - LOADING WATER TANK

We sang with the children, we shook as many hands as we could, we took photos of their smiling faces, we had photos of us taken with them. We listened to their successes, and their needs and hopes for the future, and every time we told them we could not promise anything, we had no funds for future projects, but we would try to help if we could. We did this again and again, at Nthilani Primary, Ndunguni Primary, Muusini Primary, Kyaithani Primary, Ndandini Primary and lastly Kyaithani Secondary School- at every stop the kids in uniforms, the teachers and the parents waiting to greet us and talk with us.

JAN & TERRY GO TO SCHOOL!

This always requires an interpreter since many of the adults speak only Kswahili or their own tribal language - but don't think that stops anyone! They have so much to tell us that they come up, they grab our hands, and start speaking - we just smile and nod and say yes - and they excitedly keep talking and telling us everything they have waited to tell us. Kimali (the Kyaithani School Headmaster) manages the school cluster and has been hugely instrumental in getting the 6 schools and their communities to work together for academic goals and for the goals of the Ndandini water project.

Just days ago Kimali's younger brother collapsed and passed away unexpectedly but Kimali spent the day with us today, with smiles and words of encouragement for every child and parent - and us! The burial is this coming weekend, and we were honoured to spend a short time with Kimali's family (mother, sister in law, children) and pay our respects as the community gathers around and supports the grieving family while the grave is being dug on their familial lands.

We also visited the well site by the dry riverbed - Neil said "is that the river?" - it is a massive sand bed perhaps 200 feet wide, not a drop of water in sight, that has seen one night of rain this year - the drought has lasted for over 15 years now. The deep well facilities are fenced and utilised every day by the driver of the tractor and bowser water trailer (the Rotary project completed this year) to deliver water to the water tanks installed this year at each of the 6 schools in the cluster. Horror of horrors, 11 days ago the wheel hub (the flange around the bearing) disintegrated and no water could be delivered to the schools. This was fixed by CMC in Nairobi and today the tractor and water bowser were very busy filling the tanks at the schools which have been emptied over the last 11 days. (I could tell you how the Kyaithani Secondary School took photos of the damage, emailed them to us in Canada, we contacted our Project Manager Duncan in Nairobi and he looked after the inspection and repairs by CMC) - this is almost like science fiction in this environment - and all made possible by the camera, and internet-enabled computer donated last year by sponsors to Kyaithani Secondary School and their great teachers working so hard to help the kids progress and have a chance at a better future.

NDANDINI COMMUNITY GARDENS & GREENHOUSE

It was an overwhelming day full of laughs, smiles, serious issues, tears, dust and more dust!! We visited Ndandini Primay School and met the new Headmaster Joshua -a wonderful man facing serious challenges. His greenhouse is full of tomatoes just about ready to harvest - due in large part to Eric who has spent so much time learning how to look after the tomato plants for the benefit of the Ndandini School's meal program. We also looked at the Community Garden Greenhouse - a huge greenhouse almost twice the size of Ndandini Primary School greenhouse and jam packed with masses of tomatoes almost ready to harvest. Without the water this area would still be destitute and dry. All the problems are far from being solved but are able to be addressed now one at a time as long as there is water available. During the past 11 days, the parents at all the schools and at the community garden have fetched water from the dry riverbed or from the wellsite by donkey to keep the crops in their school gardens or in the greenhouses alive and growing. Now that's dedication!

Anyway - it was very busy! The Secondary school kids finished the afternoon with singing and dancing, a funny skit which they loved to act, and huge cheers when we confirmed that tomorrow they, all 135 of them plus teachers, would be going by bus into Nairobi - where they have never been before - to visit the Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage, the Giraffe Centre, and the Nairobi Natural History Museum. They will leave school on 3 sixty passenger buses at 5am, and we will meet up with them at the Sheldick Elephant Orphanage. They have never seen the wildlife that Kenya is so famous for - just imagine what a day this will be for them!

We finally left Kyaithani at 830pm and George drove us the 3 hours back to Nairobi to the wonderful TRIBE hotel. It's now 2:00am Thursday morning - we must get some sleep since in the morning we are responsible for ensuring every one of those kids gets a box lunch when they arrive at the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust at 1100am!!
Jan & Terry Umbach

Benefits of Delivered Clean Water

Here are some recent photos taken around the Ndandini area since we installed the water tanks at the six schools and community garden, and provided the tractor and bowser to deliver clean water from the borehole to these tanks.

Below the bowser gets loaded with 7500 litres of clean water from the 48,000 litres of water stored in the 3 tanks at the wellsite.


And then water is pumped from the bowser into one of the seven 10,000 litre tanks located at the six schools and at the community garden.  It takes about 15 minutes to unload the bowser.

The rains failed again this last "rainy season" so the villagers are very eager to have this water.

The water is being used by the villagers to grow crops at the two drip-irrigation greenhouses that we have provided at the Ndandini Primary school and at the community garden.

   Here the ladies who volunteer their time are planting the first crop in the new greenhouse.

They have also planted crops in an outside garden within the one acre community garden plot which was purchased thanks to one of our very generous donors.

This maize at the community garden is the healthiest corn in the area because it is being watered.

Its great to see the willingness of the villagers to volunteer their time to start growing crops at the community garden for the benefit of the overall community.

Already the seedlings are starting to grow inside the greenhouse at the community garden.

Meanwhile at the greenhouse at Ndandini Primary School, provided as a result of a generous donation by St. Hilda's Church in Sechelt BC Canada, the 2nd crop of tomatoes is well underway.

And at the Kyaithani Secondary School, where we provide scholarships for 17 students, the student body is using the water to grow crops for their meal program and to water trees and bushes around the schoolyard.

 

While we understand the importance of clean water for drinking, for the villagers their most valuable assets are their livestock!  And using some of the water for their goats and cows means they don't have to walk them 10km to the dry river looking for water for them.  Already we have received electronic letters from the village thanking the donors for the water and telling how it has prevented many of their livestock from dying as they did previously from not being able to do the walk to the dry riverbed.

So much progress has been made since March 24th (2012) when the tractor and bowser first arrived and was unloaded, much to the amazement of everyone in the village.

The tractor has already undergone its first service.

While this project to get the water from the well to the schools and community garden has had its challenges, it has definitely been worthwhile and rewarding.

A very BIG thank you from all the villagers to our many donors within and outside Rotary.

Terry

Water Being Delivered In Ndandini Kenya

This project started in September 2007 when a group of travelers from Canada visited Ndandini and realized how poor the area is and how desperately they needed a source of clean water.  Now, because of the support and generosity of many individual donors, almost 30 Rotary Clubs in countries around the world, and the members of St. Hilda's Anglican Church (in Sechelt BC Canada), we are finally able to deliver clean water from the well we provided in June 2010 to the 6 schools in the area.  The water tanks at these schools will also provide clean water to all the 3000+ villagers.

Here are a few photos that sum it all up.

 Every day each family goes to the dry riverbed and scoops in the sand until they reach water, which is polluted because of the animals that also seek that water.

In June 2010 we drilled a deep borehole for water and succeeded.  The borehole can produce over 19,000 litres of water an hour.  We then installed a generator and pump and 3 large water tanks with 48,000 litres of storage capacity.

On March 23 we delivered the tractor and bowser to the village (see previous post).  The bowser can carry 7,500 litres of water with each load.  Here you see the water bowser being filled with clean water at the well site.

The tractor pulling the bowser loaded with clean water.  This delivery is at the Community Garden in Ndandini (another of our projects where we have installed a large drip-irrigation greenhouse and a small building where volunteers who go to help at the village can stay for a few nights).

The last remaining work on this project is to install the final 3 water tanks at the last 3 schools.  This work should be completed within the next month.

Once again,   THANK YOU to ALL our donors everywhere!

Terry

Tractor and Bowser Get Delivered to Ndandini Today!!

Today (March 23) is a much anticipated day - by the donors and by the villagers!!  Today the tractor and the water bowser were delivered from Nairobi to Ndandini.  The truck left Nairobi at 8:30am and it took until 4:30pm until they arrived.  Never underestimate how hard it is to get to the village.

While we can often get there in 4 hours by taxi, it can take much longer - especially when we are talking about heavy equipment like the drilling rig (that took almost 24 hours) or now the flat deck truck with the tractor and pulling the bowser (8 hours).

Our project manager Duncan was waiting at Kwa Vonza village (where we turn off the Machakos-Kitui highway onto the dirt track towards Ndandini) to fill the four 200 litre barrels with diesel fuel (enough to last about a month before the tractor has to return to this spot to refill).  When they arrived at Kyaithani (at the Secondary School), they unhooked the bowser from the truck and offloaded the tractor from the truck.  FINALLY the tractor and bowser have arrived!  (here is a photo of the bowser the day before it left Nairobi)

The villagers, school children and the teachers from all the six cluster schools were so excited.  So was the driver who will be using this equipment to deliver the clean water from the well to the tanks at the 6 schools.

As it was almost dark by the time the tractor was offloaded, the tractor and bowser were left at the guarded secondary school for the night.

Today (March 24) Duncan and Newton, the local driver who will be operating the tractor, moved the tractor and bowser to the Ndandini well site for the first time and are now working on finalizing the piping/hose connections between the water tanks and the bowser.

Stay tuned for more exciting news from Ndandini as the first clean water gets delivered from the well site to the schools!  We hope to have photos soon of the actual arrival of the tractor and bowser at Ndandini village and the first water deliveries to the schools.

Tractor and Bowser Photos

The Ndandini Water Distribution Project is nearing completion.  See photos below of the tractor and bowser (and more at the bottom of this blog).

The tractor is being registered (licensed) and has been fitted with a satellite and cellular phone based anti-theft tracking unit.  The bowser is nearing completion of its fabrication and its registration has been applied for. 

We have all seven bases for the water tanks constructed - one at the community garden site and one at each of the six schools.  We have also already installed water tanks at 4 of these sites, so those are ready for the water to be delivered! That means that we only have 3 more tanks to install, get the bowser fabrication complete, and then get the tractor and bowser delivered so the driver can start delivering the much anticipated water.

However, we have run over budget.  The reasons are due to the devaluation of the Kenyan shilling with the resulting inflation, and our decision to increase the size of the bowser so that we can deliver 50% more water every day to the 3000+ villagers at essentially the same tractor operating costs.

We need another us$6500 to allow us to install the last 3 tanks.  If you can help in any way, please contact me or use the "donate" area to make an online donation. 

Thanks for all your support to help us bring water to the villagers of Ndandini and Kyaithani.

Here are a few more little bits of information for you to think about:

1.  the much anticipated rains failed and the hoped for crops have not developed resulting in widespread food shortage in the Ndandini area and negatively impacting incomes and the ability of families to pay school fees to send their children to school.  Read some moving letters from some Kyaithani Secondary School students on our other blog www.ndandini-scholarshipfund.blogspot.com

2.  Here is an excerpt from a recent email we received from one of the teachers at Kyaithani Secondary School. Amongst other things it clearly shows how much the students are looking forward to having the water delivered to the school:

"Its amazing and wonderfull to learn about life in Canada. I wonder how you survive in such an hostile climate? Then you must find Kenya too hot! Such climatical conditions are part of what we teach our students and to them and even us it sounds mystery.

Its now 13.05 pm and our students are out for lunch. part of whom have found themselves in the photos in the computer and have not believed it.

Very soon you will be receiving emails from our students who are eargerly learning the computer. The tanks have been installed in the school and from the water we are expecting to get, the students have suggested that we plant vegetables to supplement their diet. The beneficieries of the scolarships are doing quite well in their academics and as teachers we have high expectations on their performance.

We have plans to take our students for a trip in Nairobi to expose them to some places like museum, animal orphanage, bomas of kenya and other place we feel relevant. our prayers is that our parents will be able to finance the trip.

We are lucky to have a very supportive and loving principal who ever since has offered guidance to both the students and teachers. We are in the process of registering our first candidates for the National examination. Hows the education system structured in Canada? this will be their final exam afterwhich those who qualify will be selected to join universties late next year.

The research I did using the computer was based on the school based chalenges that affect performance in the primary school sector in my district. I will send it to you and you get to know the hindrances to good performance among the pupils in our place.

I guess its at night in canada when we are enjoying sunshine here and therefore I wish you a well continued sleep. Thanks and God bless you"

Alex Musembi, (teacher) Kyaithani Secondary School

 

Terry

YouTube 13 minute summary of project successes since Sept 2007

Here is a brand new YouTube video that summarizes all our project work at Ndandini and Kyaithani over the past 4+ years. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3wowjcweLk&noredirect=1

See what we saw when we first visited in September 2007.  Watch as we work towards the well and finally hit water.  Watch the first drip irrigation greenhouse installed at Ndandini Primary School and see the fantastic crop of tomatoes that they have grown.  See the solar system installed at Kyaithani secondary school, installation of their internet-enabled PC and the nine students who have received scholarships from our donors.  Look at the huge new greenhouse that has been installed on the one acre community garden plot as well as the new basic volunteer building waiting for people like you to come and help these villagers.  To finish up, see the new water tanks at the 6 schools and the tractor that will pull the bowser to deliver potable water from the well to each of the schools for the students and all the villagers in the area.

Its a great way to catch up if you are new to our project and a great refresher for all our donors.

Thanks again for your fantastic support that has made all this possible!
Terry