KENYA – Laingeso poured the fresh cool water you helped provide over her children’s heads. She recalled how clean, fresh, and satisfying the water from their new well now tasted on her lips. She smiled, maybe even laughed. Thankfully, her children—Khoboso (3) and Thuleyo (10 months)—would be spared the agony she had endured for far too long.
Laingeso’s life had been a constant battle for clean water. It could have been tragic if wonderful friends like you had not intervened. Her family relies on water to drink, cook, and keep their livestock—their primary source of income—alive. They often traveled from place to place just to find enough of this precious resource for their thirsty goats, cattle, and camels. But the recent drought in the Marsabit region of Kenya had dried up most of their watering holes.
They settled with about 430 other families in the Korr villages to endure the worst. Every day, women and children had to carry two or three jerrycans several miles to gather water from an old borehole well in Tubcha. It left little time for other chores and earning additional income.
“It would often take me a whole day to get the water,” Laingeso told us. The water was salty and made cooking difficult. It also caused urinary problems for her family. But she never gave up hope for a better future for her children. “I have always prayed that God will bring us water closer.”
Refreshment from a New Well
God heard her prayers and answered through generous supporters like you! Your love and compassion came to her rescue and helped build a new deep borehole well that provided fresh, clean water to Laingeso, her children, and the 430 families in the Korr villages.
Your generosity also blessed each of the four communities with bathrooms and hand-washing stations. Residents learned about safe sanitation practices so they can create healthier habits that will help prevent further infection and disease.
Laingeso couldn’t contain her joy. “When we tasted this water for the first time, everyone in the village was so excited as the water was fresh, clean and very satisfying.” She added, “Now we fetch water from the taps and go to the bathroom and shower comfortably and there is also the privacy to shower.”
Through this water system and new well, friends like you changed the lives of these communities for now—and for generations to come. “If there was something we could give to show our gratitude, we would, but now only our words and our smiles can express the gratitude in our hearts,” said Laingeso. “May you be blessed, and may the Lord reward your generosity.
