CHRF Continues to Make “Waves” with Water in Kenya

Earlier this year CHRF shared stories from Kenya of History in the making. Today we are proud to report that in 2015 we have continued to make great strides in the field of clean water and personal hygiene. So much so in fact that the international community is taking notice.  Along with our partners in Chogoria, Kenya we have been able to provide clean drinkable water for tens of thousands of school children and their families—now we plan to take this program one step further.

In a region where sources of drinking water are few and far between—and most of those that are available have been contaminated by viruses, parasites or bodily waste—we have established a school based system  that provides clean drinking water and hygiene stations for more than 50,000 children and their families. Our partners on the ground have brought massive water tanks into more than 181 schools, each of which holds upwards of 1000 liters of water at a time. With merely a few drops of a cleansing agent, this water becomes 99.9% contaminant free and provides clean, disease free water for hundreds of children at each location.

The key to this system is education. In the US ideas like drinking clean water, the necessity of hand washing and good hygiene are second nature. However in rural Kenya, where a vast majority of individuals have never been taught these “basic” principles, the cleanliness and safety of water are rarely considered. This is one of the major reasons there are over two million deaths from water borne illnesses each year, at CHRF we believe this must be stopped!

It is simply not enough to provide the necessary tools for a source of clean water, we must also teach the practices of how to effectively use these tools to properly protect themselves against the horrible effects of water based illnesses. Again, it sounds a little strange to us having to teach the benefits of clean water, but if someone provided us with all the parts to a small machine, with no instructions for how to properly use or construct that machine, what would we do?

For this reason CHRF sends small teams of volunteer water experts to each school we provide a tank for, to instruct the children and their teachers how to properly clean and store their water. The water experts also share the importance of using soap and other cleansers to prevent illness. We then encourage the children to share these safety techniques with members of their family and the larger community.

We are happy to report that this system which started within only a few small schools before expanding to more than 181 throughout the Chogoria Region has shown massive success in the fight against water borne diseases and truly saved lives! So much so, that the national government of Kenya and several other international agencies have recognized our work and requested that we continue to expand the program and share this great success story with new communities; across Kenya and beyond!

This program is truly made possible through the outstanding generosity of our kind and caring donors, and with the help of people like you we hope to expand this wonderful system. Please join us as we continue to help change the world, one child at a time!