Last month, I traveled to a rural community in the West Pokot district of Kenya, to visit a Church World Service program. In 2005, CWS partnered with Yang’at, a community based organization in Pokot, to build a sand dam with the local people. What I learned from my visit is that water transforms lives.
Young Mothers Who Helped Build the Sand Dam
While in Pokot, two community members talked to our group about the changes the sand dam has created. Jenifer, a young mother, explained that she no longer walks 6-7 hours a day to gather water. Consequently, she now has time to attend the adult literacy class held under a tree near her home. (To read a report I wrote for CWS on Jenifer, click on the “Water Impacting Literacy” page in the right column).
Elder Kalutarin
After Jenifer shared, an elder in the community named Kalutarin addressed the CWS group. The man began by pointing to two Pokot women from Yang’at who coordinated the sand dam project. He said that the two women have shown him, by bringing water closer to the community and by bringing visitors from the land of Obama, what kinds of things women are capable of doing. “From this day forward,” he stated, “I know that girls have value.”
Because women and girls are viewed as property in that community, I know I witnessed a miracle that day. Some of the incredibly difficult situations that girls in rural communities are up against, do not seem quite as overwhelming when I actually see their faces, see the strength of their spirits, and see the changes that are being made.
Posted on December 21st, 2008 by Nancy
Filed under: Uncategorized