Well Begins Providing Clean Water to Namawanga

A team from the EWB Kenya Program began the new year in western Kenya working with the Namawanga Community for three weeks.   EWB Members Ben Taylor, Patrick Border, and Peter Rasmussen worked with the Namawanga Community over winter break to help them establish a management plan for the new well, and help inspect and repair local spring boxes.  The new well that was drilled in October at the Machakha Polytechnic School is now supplying drinking water daily for at least 1,000 people in the community.  The ribbon-cutting ceremony held to celebrate the well included speeches and dancing and was attended by many Namawanga villagers as well as several Kenyan officials.  While there, the EWB team helped the village develop a management plan for the well.  Each well user will pay 50 Kenyan Shillings per month (~$0.75) for use of the well to a Water Technical Committee comprised of members of Namawanga’s Women’s Literacy Group.  This money will go towards maintaining the well and hand pump in the future.  While in Namawanga the EWB  team helped inspect and repair local spring boxes and also had the opportunity to travel to neighboring villages and inspect those village water sources.  It is a hope of the EWB Kenya Program that while continuing to work with Namawanga they can also begin to extend their work  to neighboring communities.-Feb. 4, 2010

Kenya Program in Namawanga

The EWB-Kenya Program currently has a small team of students working in the village of Namawanga.  The team consists of undergraduate students Ben Taylor and Patrick Border and graduate student Peter Rasmussen.  The team arrived in Kenya on  December 31st and will be working with the village until January 14th.  One of the most exciting events of their trip has been the ribbon cutting ceremony for the new well which is now providing water to the village.  The team has been working with the village to develop a a management plan for the well and have been helping with maintenace on the spring boxes built in previous visits.  Before leaving the area this coming Thursday the team will work with the village of Namawanga to figure out future needs and will hopefully have the opportunity to visit nearby villages in order to evaluate the potential of expanding their work to other villages.-Jan. 12,2010

Kenya Program Plans to Travel to Namawanga in January 2010

The EWB-UMass Kenya Program is in the process of preparing for a trip to Namawanga in January of 2010.  While in Namawanga the team will be helping the Namawanga community to develop a management plan for the well that EWB-UMass had drilled at the Machakha Polytechnic School of Namawanga in early October 2009.  A management plan for the well is important in order to make sure that proper funds are obtained from the use of the well water in order to supply enough money to pay for well repairs and general maintenance.  EWB-UMass will help Namawanga develop a group of Namawanga village members who can oversee the well and are well trained in maintaining the well pump system.

While in Namawanga this coming January EWB-UMass will also be constructing a rainwater catchment system at a local health clinic.  EWB-UMass is in the process of finalizing the designs for the rainwater catchment system and will be building a prototype of the system on the UMASS-Amherst campus in early December in order to test the system.   Building this rainwater catchment system at the local health clinic will provide the clinic with a good source of easily accessible water to the clinic and through the construction process EWB-UMass will teach the residents of Namawanga how they can implement rainwater catchment systems on their own homes.

Well Drilled at Machakha Polytechnic School in Namawanga

EWB-UMass is happy to report that in early October 2009 a well was drilled at the Machakha Polytechnic School in Namawanga!  Drilling a well in the Village of Namawanga to provide a centralized public source of clean drinking water for the community has been a goal of the EWB-UMass Kenya Program since beginning work with the Namawanga community in March of 2006.  An initial test of the well capacity indicates a high flow of  3 cubic meters per hour.  A hand pump will be installed on the well to give the village access.

EWB-UMass would like to thank all those who contributed to the well fund especially the Westfield Rotary who has fundraised $15,000 for the construction of the well!  Thank you to all who helped provide the Village of Namawanga with this new clean source of water!