Sikh Union Coventry

Kenya Water Bore Project 2014

EVERY HUMAN BEING SOUL HAVE A BACIS RIGHT TO CLEAN WATER

Site : Munyenze, Machakos

19.09.14-Travelled to Makindu with Pinda Jandoo and Kulvinder Shira. Visited number of existing bore holes and the new one

Stayed the night at the Gurudwara

20.09.14- At the Gurudwara, visited more boreholes

Some parts of Kenya severely suffer from lack of rainfall. Annual rainfall in the area averages 700mm per year. The fast flowing rivers turn into streams and eventually run dry. Running streams bring carry pollutant, and the quality of water collected from these rivers is rendered unsafe for drinking

Against the backdrop of distant rocky hills the landscape is that of scattered dried trees and savannah grassland. The earth is generally barren and parched Lack of rain is due to extensive de-forestation. The wood from the trees is used as cooking fuel.

There are small villages comprising of no more than ten small accommodation units. The population in each village approximate to about 50 people in total. There is a mixture of old and young people. Apparently, majority of teenagers have left these villages to seek employment in the town and cities.

There is some form of education system and the young ones are sent to the schools which are scattered around the area, some as far as two kilometres away. The children do wear a coded school uniform but majority have no shoes and walk bare foot.

In addition to receiving minimal education the children are tasked with other duties, and the main one being fetching water from dried out rivers. The roads and these rivers can be some distance away and becomes an ardours task. Some children are not fortunate enough to return back home as they get attacked by snakes and other animals.

In the year 2007 a request by the village co-ordinator was made to the Ramgarhia Youth Association(RYA) to do something to bring clean water nearer to the villages. RYA carried out a stage 1 initial assessment of the land use followed by geological survey.

A suitable site was located for sinking of the borehole. Specialist’s contractors were invited to carry out the work Borehole project.

Each year RYA complete and commissioned at least one project. Partner match funding as far afield as United Kingdom and Canada are invited to join the project. Funding of the project is purely through generous donations. Members make their own travel and accommodation arrangements at their own expense. All donations are fully committed to the project. Lions Club of Fairlop (UK) and Coventry Sikh Union came on the scene in the year 2012 and have jointly completed three borehole projects so far.

The borehole site for this year(2014) was chosen at Munyenze. The borehole was commissioned on the 21st September 2014.

The joint opening of the third borehole commenced with the Arambh of the Akhand path on the 19th September 2014 at the Makindu Sikh Gurudwara ,Kenya with the Bhog ceremony held on the 21st September 2014. Members of the RYA and the Fairlop Lions attended the inauguration ceremony of the borehole. The first flow of water from the borehole was drawn by the members of the community in the presence of the co-ordinators, RYA and Fairlop Lions. One could see the excitement on the faces of the people who had not seen water from the tap since the independence of Kenya some 50 years ago. The ceremony was followed by speeches from various representatives of the community extending their heartfelt thanks to the project organisers. The ceremony ended with lunch.

Future Projects- It’s intended to continue with future borehole projects, match fund with other organisations.

Finally our acknowledgement and thanks to the following for making this a great success:

Mr Kulwinder Singh Sirha – Chairman – Ramgarhia Youth Association, Kenya
Mr Pindi Singh Chana – Chairman – Sikh Union, Coventry
Mr Prit[pal Kalsi – Chairman – Sikh Union, Nairobi
Lion Pinda Singh Jandoo, Project Co-ordinator – Lion Club of Fairlop

All the sponsors and specials thanks to Lions Club of Fairlop:- Satwant Jandoo and his Gordon Langton Lodge members.

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