Ndandini Village Kenya

Tractor and Bowser Photos

2012-02-23T09:34:00.000-08:00

The Ndandini Water Distribution Project is nearing completion. See photos below of the tractor and bowser (and more at the bottom of this blog).

The tractor is being registered (licensed) and has been fitted with a satellite and cellular phone based anti-theft tracking unit. The bowser is nearing completion of its fabrication and its registration has been applied for.

We have all seven bases for the water tanks constructed - one at the community garden site and one at each of the six schools. We have also already installed water tanks at 4 of these sites, so those are ready for the water to be delivered! That means that we only have 3 more tanks to install, get the bowser fabrication complete, and then get the tractor and bowser delivered so the driver can start delivering the much anticipated water.

However, we have run over budget. The reasons are due to the devaluation of the Kenyan shilling with the resulting inflation, and our decision to increase the size of the bowser so that we can deliver 50% more water every day to the 3000+ villagers at essentially the same tractor operating costs.

We need another us$6500 to allow us to install the last 3 tanks. If you can help in any way, please contact me or use the "donate" area to make an online donation.

Thanks for all your support to help us bring water to the villagers of Ndandini and Kyaithani.

Here are a few more little bits of information for you to think about:

1. the much anticipated rains failed and the hoped for crops have not developed resulting in widespread food shortage in the Ndandini area and negatively impacting incomes and the ability of families to pay school fees to send their children to school. Read some moving letters from some Kyaithani Secondary School students on our other blog www.ndandini-scholarshipfund.blogspot.com

2. Here is an excerpt from a recent email we received from one of the teachers at Kyaithani Secondary School. Amongst other things it clearly shows how much the students are looking forward to having the water delivered to the school:

"Its amazing and wonderfull to learn about life in Canada. I wonder how you survive in such an hostile climate? Then you must find Kenya too hot! Such climatical conditions are part of what we teach our students and to them and even us it sounds mystery.

Its now 13.05 pm and our students are out for lunch. part of whom have found themselves in the photos in the computer and have not believed it.

Very soon you will be receiving emails from our students who are eargerly learning the computer. The tanks have been installed in the school and from the water we are expecting to get, the students have suggested that we plant vegetables to supplement their diet. The beneficieries of the scolarships are doing quite well in their academics and as teachers we have high expectations on their performance.

We have plans to take our students for a trip in Nairobi to expose them to some places like museum, animal orphanage, bomas of kenya and other place we feel relevant. our prayers is that our parents will be able to finance the trip.

We are lucky to have a very supportive and loving principal who ever since has offered guidance to both the students and teachers. We are in the process of registering our first candidates for the National examination. Hows the education system structured in Canada? this will be their final exam afterwhich those who qualify will be selected to join universties late next year.

The research I did using the computer was based on the school based chalenges that affect performance in the primary school sector in my district. I will send it to you and you get to know the hindrances to good performance among the pupils in our place.

I guess its at night in canada when we are enjoying sunshine here and therefore I wish you a well continued sleep. Thanks and God bless you"

Alex Musembi, (teacher) Kyaithani Secondary School

Terry

YouTube 13 minute summary of project successes since Sept 2007

2012-01-19T19:01:00.000-08:00

Here is a brand new YouTube video that summarizes all our project work at Ndandini and Kyaithani over the past 4+ years.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3wowjcweLk&noredirect=1

See what we saw when we first visited in September 2007. Watch as we work towards the well and finally hit water. Watch the first drip irrigation greenhouse installed at Ndandini Primary School and see the fantastic crop of tomatoes that they have grown. See the solar system installed at Kyaithani secondary school, installation of their internet-enabled PC and the nine students who have received scholarships from our donors. Look at the huge new greenhouse that has been installed on the one acre community garden plot as well as the new basic volunteer building waiting for people like you to come and help these villagers. To finish up, see the new water tanks at the 6 schools and the tractor that will pull the bowser to deliver potable water from the well to each of the schools for the students and all the villagers in the area.

Its a great way to catch up if you are new to our project and a great refresher for all our donors.

Thanks again for your fantastic support that has made all this possible!
Terry

ROTARY DESIGNATES DUNCAN A "PAUL HARRIS FELLOW"

2011-10-30T23:39:00.000-07:00

Because of his dedication and commitment to various Rotary projects in Ndandini and Kyaithani, Kenya, successfully completed over the past three years the Rotary Club of the Sunshine Coast (Sechelt BC Canada) has awarded Duncan Kamau the prestigious Paul Harris Fellow recognition.

Duncan has been our project manager responsible for all on-site management of our Rotary matching grants and TRF Global Grants at Ndandini and Kyaithani.

By reading all the posts on this blogspot, you will understand why he deserves this recognition.

Below is the content of the presentation made to Duncan on 30 October 2011.

Well done Duncan!

Terry

Paul Harris Fellow Presentation

Duncan Kamau Ngochi

Oct 30, 2011

The presentation of Paul Harris Fellow recognition is The Rotary Foundation's way of expressing its appreciation for a substantial contribution to Rotary’s humanitarian and educational programs.

The Paul Harris Fellowship is named for Paul Harris, who founded Rotary over 100 years ago. The Fellowship was established in his honor in 1957 to express appreciation and recognition for a contribution of US $1000 to The Rotary Foundation. A Paul Harris Fellow is an individual who contributes $1,000 US or in whose name that amount is contributed in recognition of the significant work that person has done to further the humanitarian objectives of Rotary. Every Paul Harris Fellow receives a pin, medallion and a certificate when he or she becomes a Fellow. This identifies the Paul Harris Fellow as an advocate of the Rotary Foundation's goals of world peace and international understanding.

Rotarians often designate a Paul Harris Fellow as a tribute to a person whose life demonstrates a shared purpose with the objectives of The Rotary Foundation. Today we have the honor and pleasure of recognizing Duncan Kamau Ngochi as he becomes a Paul Harris Fellow.

Duncan was designated to receive this special recognition as an expression of sincere appreciation from the Rotary Club Sunshine Coast – Sechelt, British Columbia, Canada.

A world of peace and good will comes closer to reality today as Duncan becomes a Paul Harris Fellow. It is because of support and commitment from people like Duncan that The Rotary Foundation is able to carry out an array of programs that achieve beneficial changes in our world:

- improved living conditions,

- increased food production,

- better education,

- new channels for the flow of international understanding,

- and brighter hopes for peace throughout the world.

Today this Paul Harris Fellow award is given to Duncan Kamau Ngochi .

Duncan has been our Project Manager for 3 years, working in the very arid Ndandini and Kyaithani area of Kenya south-east of Nairobi. Duncan was responsible for managing all of the on-site work for the successful Ndandini Rotary Matching Grant water project. This project, which was supported by the generosity of Rotary Clubs and many non-Rotarians, resulted in the successful drilling of the very productive Ndandini borehole in June 2010 and making water potentially available for over 3000 people in the Ndandini and Kyaithani area of Kenya .

Duncan managed the acquisition and installation of a drip-irrigation greenhouse for the Ndandini Primary School in July 2010, a project that has resulted in the growing of year-round crops in the area for the first time. This project was a result of the generous support of St. Hilda’s Anglican church in Sechelt, BC Canada.

Duncan also managed all of the on-site work for our Solar and Scholarship Project this year for the Kyaithani Secondary School. This has seen power and lighting installed, an internet-enabled computer with TV/DVD and camera provided, and the provision of 9 scholarships. This project was supported by the generosity of Rotary Clubs and many non-Rotarians.

Duncan has also managed all of the on-site work this past 12 months on the Community Garden project. This has seen the acquisition of land and the installation of a large community greenhouse and a small building to accommodate volunteers who go to Ndandini. This project was made possible by the generous donation of a non-Rotarian.

Duncan is now continuing his support and commitment by working with us on the Ndandini Water Distribution Rotary Global Grant project which will deliver water from the Ndandini well to 6 schools in the Ndandini and Kyaithani area, making potable water much more easily available to the 3000+ people living in the area.

We acknowledge and sincerely thank Duncan for:

his personal dedication and commitment for almost 3 years,

his time away from his home and family,

his endurance of hardship in the village with no facilities,

his donation of personal funds for many things that were never invoiced,

and his suffering injuries in a taxi roll-over while en-route to Ndandini to do work for our project.

Without Duncan’s daily communication with us and all the work he has done, these projects would never have happened.

It gives us great pleasure, Duncan, to present these three emblems of recognition and appreciation which are given to each Paul Harris Fellow:

Your certificate,

Your medallion,

And Your Paul Harris pin,

We heartily congratulate you and thank you Duncan

for your commitment to Ndandini,

for your commitment to the projects sponsored by our many donors,

and for helping the Rotary Foundation with its humanitarian programs.

The Rotary Club of Sunshine Coast – Sechelt

On behalf of the many individuals and Rotary Clubs around the world who have partnered in these projects.

REPORT ON VISIT TO NDANDINI and KYAITHANI Sept 30 2011

2011-10-19T07:44:00.000-07:00

We (Jan & Terry) have just returned from several days visiting the Ndandini and Kyaithani villages. We are very pleased with the progress that has been made over the past year since we last visited in September 2010 after drilling the well at Ndandini.

All work has been completed at the community garden and a ladies group has been formed that is already starting to turn the soil inside the greenhouse. They are so excited with what is happening at their village and so committed to getting started.

They have decided that they want to start planting inside the greenhouse as soon as they can, even though they will have to fetch water by donkey from the well site (some 4km away) for the drip-irrigation until the tractor and water wagon becomes a reality early next year.

The sight of the very large 8x24 metre greenhouse inside the fenced acre of land along with the new volunteer building and toilet hut is quite impressive in this area of mud & thatched huts and basic mud brick buildings.

There are 250+ tomato plants growing inside the greenhouse at the Ndandini Primary School that St. Hilda's church donated last fall. The plants are each over 5 feet tall! What a sight.

The womens group doing the work there are very excited with the crop and the fruits of their labour.

Unfortunately, because the only green to be found in the area is the drip-irrigated gardens at Ndandini, the birds have found the outdoor garden and are feeding on the Kale leaves.

It would be great if we could provide a netting cover over the outdoor garden area to protect the crop from being eaten by the birds.

The newly installed solar system at the Kyaithani Secondary School is making a big difference in the habits of the students there.

Many of them leave home in the dark at 3:30am to get to school by 4:30am to study under the lights. With average family income of 100 Ksh/day ($1), they cannot afford to spend 80 Ksh/night for a litre of kerosene for lighting at home to do their homework there.

We delivered a PC, internet connection, DVD player, LCD TV and camera and spent several hours training the teachers how to get started with them. We have already received emails from the teachers and several students.

We met with the 9 Kyaithani Secondary School students who each received a $300 scholarship this past year and had a chance to talk with each of them. They are all eager to start exchanging emails with donors and especially with other students. We have set up an email address for students, teachers and the administration.

We are actively soliciting donations for hopefully even more scholarships for next year. Check out www.ndandini-scholarshipfund.blogspot.com for more information about the scholarship program.

We also visited each of the 6 school sites in the Kyaithani School Cluster where we will be installing water tanks and soon delivering water from the Ndandini well with a tractor and water wagon. In concert with the teachers and parents, we have identified the best location at each school for the water tank as it will be used by nearby villagers as well as the school itself. We can now begin constructing the bases for these water tanks. At each of the schools we were impressed with the support of the teachers and parents. The parents at each school have planted a garden to support the school meal program even though now they have to bring the water by donkey from the dry riverbed over 4km away (and scoop in the sand to get that water!).

The entire extended Ndandini and Kyaithani community of over 3000 people is now truly becoming united and working together.

Everywhere we went we were asked to "THANK THE DONORS"! And we do indeed. It is all happening because of your support. Thank you. Please keep it up.

Terry

COMMUNITY GARDEN GREENHOUSE INSTALLED!

2011-09-12T21:39:00.000-07:00

This past week our project manager has been working very hard out at Ndandini.

He and his workers have installed the solar system at the Kyaithani Secondary School as well as the 8x24m drip-irrigation greenhouse at the community garden. The building where volunteers can stay is also now complete - and it even has a wash basin, shower and toilet.

Very hard work in very hot and dry conditions. Good work Duncan!

Terry

Water IS COMING to 6 Ndandini area schools!

2011-07-30T12:31:00.000-07:00

We have received word that our requested Rotary Grant has received funding! That means that we will be able to install a water storage tank at each of the 5 primary schools in the Ndandini / Kyaithani area of eastern Kenya as well as at the Kyaithani Secondary school.

We also will be able to provide a tractor and water wagon (similar to the one pictured below) to deliver the potable water from the Ndandini well to each of these storage tanks. There will be 3000+ villagers getting access to potable water because of this project.

Thanks to everyone who has helped raise the money for this project and also to those who will be helping with the actual project work over the next 3 or 4 months.

Terry

New VOLUNTEER BUILDING on the Community Garden land

2011-07-27T12:37:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to show how the new "VOLUNTEER BUILDING" is coming along. This is a basic one room building that is being constructed on the land for the community garden. It will provide a place for volunteers who go to Ndandini to sleep overnight. It will have a shower and wash basin and a small solar system for charging camera, cellphone and computer batteries and for a light. There will also be potable water from the Ndandini well. You will still have to bring your own sleeping bag and food supplies as there is nothing else around.
Terry

Rotary Global Grant update

2011-07-26T11:37:00.000-07:00

Today we received notice from TRF (The Rotary Foundation) that our global grant application has passed all the preliminary scrutiny after we answered all their questions. The application has now been forwarded for a final funding decision. I am hopeful that we will receive further notice within a week or so.

Terry

ALMOST THERE! Now applying for the final grant for the Water Distribution Project

2011-07-18T11:42:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone, we have now received commitments from various Rotary Clubs around the world for sufficient funds to allow us to apply for a Global Grant from Rotary International to provide all the funding that we will need for the project to provide water storage tanks at all the schools in the Nandini area of Kenya and to provide a tractor and water wagon to keep those tanks full of potable water.

I hope to hear from Rotary International shortly regarding their review of our grant application. I will post the information when I get it.

In the meantime, here is the contents of a letter that I just received from one of the Primary Schools which will be getting one of the water tanks:

2011/07/12

From Mary Kilonzo

Assistant Teacher, Ndunguni Primary School

BENEFITS OF DISTRIBUTING THE BOREHOLE WATER AT NDANDINI TO THE SCHOOLS WITHIN THE KYAITHANI CLUSTER

The following are some of the perceived benefits upon distributing the above mentioned water to the schools within the cluster:

A. It will improve the health status of both the teachers and pupils as,

(i) it will provide clean and purified water for drinking and cooking,

(ii) the water drawn from the rivers is mostly contaminated and there are reported cases of infections of waterborne diseases.

B. If the water is supplied to the schools it will support projects in the schools. Such projects include

(i) horticultural farming which in turn will supplement the pupils diet.

(ii) building and construction projects within schools will be easily carried out.

(iii) agro-forestry - it will make it easy to plant trees and forests within the schools compound.

(iv) it will enhance the schools to establish fish ponds which will supply the schools with fish to supplement the pupils diet.

C. At the moment the water used in the schools is carried to the schools by the pupils or alternatively supplied by the parents. On having piped water the schools will therefore offload the pupils and parents from this.

D. When the parents are unable to supply water to the schools, they end up buying water whereby some levies are charged for this and those parents who fail to pay the bill their children are sent away from school affecting their performance. The piped water will relieve the parents the burden of paying such levies and be able to direct the charges to other education related costs.

E. The piped water will be used to clean the compound and make the pupils grow up in a clean environment. This will be achieved through regular washing of the ablutions and classes together with the offices.

F. Water is essentially used in teaching process mostly in science laboratories in high schools and science lessons in primary schools. With the supply of piped water it will therefore serve the purpose and hopefully improve the classroom instruction process by motivating both the teachers and pupils.

G. With the supply of water to the schools, some schools will be possibly promoted to boarding schools where the pupils/students will be confined within the school environ. This will cut the cost of day to day walking to the schools which is a burden to the pupils. The confinement will create more time for the pupils to embark on their academics.

NB. All the above factors will compound to improved socio-economic and academic standards in the schools within the cluster.

(signed) Mrs. Mary Kilonzo

UPDATE - Fundraising for the Ndandini Water Distribution Project

2011-06-05T09:47:00.000-07:00

We are making good progress towards our goal of raising the necessary us$62,500 for the project to bring potable water from the Ndandini well to the 3000 villagers and schoolchildren living in Kyaithani (in the greater Ndandini area).

Our first goal is to raise us$25,000 from various Rotary clubs and private donors. So far we have commitments for us$20,000. Not there yet, but getting close. Can you help?

Once we have this money committed, we will then be in a position to apply for the us$37,500 in grants from Rotary to complete the project fundraising.

We are hoping that we can complete the $25,000 portion of the fundraising early in June, apply for the grant in July, and get the project underway by September.

Terry

WATER DISTRIBUTION PROJECT moves a bit forward

2011-04-28T21:39:00.000-07:00

Our plans to create another Rotary Project to distribute the potable water from the Ndandini well so that the 3000+ people living near Kyaithani Village can get access to the precious water have moved several steps further in the past month.

We have put together the proposal for a plan (total cost approximately us$62,500) which has been now been accepted by The Rotary Foundation. The proposal would see us install water tanks at the 6 schools in the Ndandini area and provide a tractor and water wagon to deliver the potable water from the Ndandini well to each school. 1200 schoolchildren will benefit from this every day. We also aim to install 3 more water tanks in locations around the village area so that we will reach all 3000+ villagers.

We will need us$25,000 in donations for this project. Once we raise that amount (hopefully by July 1, 2011) we can then apply to The Rotary Foundation for grants totalling us$37,500 which will provide the total funding for the project.

We have already secured us$5,000 and are actively seeking partners for the additional us$20,000.

If you can help, email terryumbach@hotmail.com for additional information.

Terry

COMMUNITY GARDEN UPDATE - land now fenced

2011-04-28T21:30:00.000-07:00

Our Project manager Duncan and the villagers have been very busy this past month. The one acre plot of land for the community garden which we secured clear title to in February has now been cleared and totally fenced.

The villagers will be continuing to do the final clearing and then we will be ready for the building of a bunkhouse (which volunteers can use for sleeping overnight) and the installation of the drip-irrigation greenhouse and outdoor garden.

Keep watching for more progress reports as we move towards our goal of a community garden for Ndandini.

Terry

UPDATE - thoughts for distributing well water to Kyaithani and 6 schools

2011-03-05T10:03:00.000-08:00

We earlier reported that a project was being investigated to see if we could construct a pipeline from our very successful well in Ndandini to the village of Kyaithani, some 4km distant, which is home to over 3000 villagers.

I am pleased to be able to report that since drilling the Ndandini well in June 2010, it still continues to produce clean water at the original rate of 19,000 litres/hour (when the pump is active). This is very good news as it shows that the water source, some 9 months later, is still highly productive. With this reassurance, we can more confidently proceed with plans to try to distribute the water from the well to more distance beneficiaries.

Our water distribution investigations are now pointing us in a slightly different direction. We are looking at the possibiliity of providing a TRACTOR and WAGON with water tanks. We saw one last September while in Kenya (see below) and that got us thinking more seriously about this option.

A pipeline would provide water at only one point where we could install a storage tank and a set of taps.

A tractor could DELIVER water to each of the 6 schools in the Ndandini/Kyaithani area that have no water as well as to several potential storage tanks and distribution taps around the village area! We are thinking that this might be a much better way to get clean water to more people in the near term.

If you consider there are approximately 200 children at each of the 6 schools, that's 1200 people that would be getting clean water every day because of this project. A couple of extra storage tanks in the village and we can reach the whole 3000+ people in the Kyaithani area.

We are working on developing the project budget and setting this up as another Rotary matching grant project (similar to the very successful one which resulted in the provision of the Ndandini well).

If you are a Rotary Club, or an individual whether a member of Rotary or not, that would be interested in getting involved with us on this project, let me know at terryumbach@hotmail.com .

Keep watching for more news as we move forward on this promising initiative to make more use of the water from the Ndandini well site.

Terry

COMMUNITY GARDEN UPDATE - Land now secured

2011-03-05T09:40:00.000-08:00

We have successfully completed the negotiations with the landowner and now have secured clear title to the one acre of land for the community garden. Thanks again to the great on-the-ground work of our Nairobi based project manager Duncan.

The Ndandini Water Committee, headed by Kimali who is the principal at the Kyaithani secondary school, is now coordinating the colunteer labour of the village to clear the land in preparation for the next step in the project.

We are hoping that by mid-March the land will have been cleared of all the current brush (it has been unused for a while) so that Duncan will then be able to get the whole plot fenced to keep all grazing animals out of the area and away from the eventual drip-irrigation garden.

Keep watching for updates as this part of the project gets underway.

Terry

A Rotary Partner club proposes a follow-on project

2010-12-02T22:11:00.000-08:00

A visit to a Rotary water and/or sanitation project can be life changing.

Just 2 months ago a Rotarian from Saint John (New Brunswick, Canada), one of our 25 partner Rotary clubs, visited Ndandini to witness first hand the completed Ndandini well project. While there Greg Jewett used his skills and experience to teach the primary school teachers how to make better use of the computer and internet link which we had just given to them, now that we have installed solar lighting and power in the school. He says "I made 1200 friends at the 6 schools in the area" and "the people are so friendly and thankful" for the contributions that have been made towards improving the welfare of the village.

Now, just this week Greg tells us that he and his Rotary club intend to help start a new Rotary project. This new project will help bring the 19,000 litres of water an hour that the well can deliver closer to the village where over 3000 people live. Fundraising and project planning have already begun.

With support from partner Rotary clubs, like we did this year to drill the well, we hope to install some 4km of piping and, using solar powered pumps, fill water storage tanks in the village. Women and children will then no longer have to walk many kilometres to fetch water which takes so much time away from the childrens' studies and from the women's many family responsibilities.

If you think your Rotary Club would like to become a partner in our success in Ndandini, perhaps in this new pipeline project, send me an email terryumbach@hotmail.com to start the ball rolling. If your interests are in other related areas such as improving sanitation at schools or literacy (possibly by providing improved educational aids like solar powered computers for teachers at the other 5 primary schools) or implementing a computer lab at the local secondary school, let's talk. The needs are so great and there are many small and inexpensive projects that could be done quickly.

We continue our work to build a village development model that hopefully can be replicated in many places. Bridging Continents and Building Communities - Starting with Water.

Please read the many posts in this blog. So much good is being done in the Ndandini area because of the interest and generosity of many Rotarians and non-Rotarians working together.

Terry

GREAT NEWS for the COMMUNITY GARDEN PROJECT

2010-11-20T20:08:00.000-08:00

Ndandini Village WILL have their volunteer community garden! Because of the success of the well, the support of all the Rotary clubs in our Matching Grant project, and other donors to date, and the willingness of the Ndandini community to work to help themselves, a very generous donor has stepped forward to fund the majority of the cost of the community garden project. For this we and the villagers are VERY grateful.

Just take a look at the wonderful progress that the school is making with their first tomato and spinach crop, planted less than two months ago! Already you can see large and small green tomatoes getting ready to ripen on the vines.

It is also wonderful to see the students actively participating in looking after the outside drip-irrigation garden. Look at the size of those spinach plants!

If you would like to be a part of helping us help these willing villagers and students improve their lives, you can do so by clicking on the "Donate" area at the top right of this blog. Everyone's contribution helps. It could be the best Christmas gift that you will give this year.

And if you would like to help us provide scholarships to 20 students at the local high school, you can do that too by visiting our scholarship blog and donating there. How many of your friends and family would be glad that you helped a student in Ndandini go to school rather than buying that extra little gift that they didn't really need? You can get a tax receipt (for Canadian tax returns) for either donation.

Go to http://www.ndandini-scholarshipfund.blogspot.com/ to read about the scholarship fund.

Thanks

Terry

Scholarship Fund Launched to Assist Ndandini area students attend Kyaithani Secondary School

2010-11-08T06:00:00.000-08:00

Joan Merrick was among the initial visitors to Ndandini in September 2007. She was impressed by the eagerness of the the women and children to educate themselves and improve their lives and futures. She was also devastated by the realization that their poverty and the lack of support for the community was dooming them.

Joan became an active supporter of the Ndandini Water Project and in September 2010 revisited Ndandini for the dedication of the now operating well. While there Joan toured the five primary schools and the one secondary school in the Ndandini area. She met with many of the students and the principal, Kimali.

Kimali himself was originally a student of this area. He went on to a teaching career and has now returned to help educate the children of the area. He has also become the Chairman of the Ndandini Water Project, and is leading an initiative to coordinate the educational activities of the six schools in the area to encourage more students to complete higher levels of learning.

Joan returned to Canada with the desire to organize a scholarship program to help. We are so happy to see more people taking an active role in helping the Ndandini area.

Please visit the scholarship fund blog for more information about the fund. I encourage you to spread the word about this worthwhile project.

Visit http://www.ndandini-scholarshipfund.blogspot.com/ where you can make a donation and receive a receipt for your Canadian tax return.

This scholarship program is also being supported by the Rotary Clubs of Belleville (Ontario) and Sunshine Coast-Sechelt (BC).

Terry

An Opportunity to Help

2010-10-20T16:23:00.000-07:00

We have an opportunity to acquire an acre of land near the Ndandini Primary School to use as a "community garden". We have talked to the community about this concept for over a year. They are eager to contribute.

Here is the idea:

1. Our donor community contributes the funds to secure the land, fence it, and acquire and install a drip-irrigation greenhouse system similar to the one that we have already installed at the Ndandini Primary School. The preliminary estimates are that the cost will be in the area of $12,000 to $14,000 to buy the land and the greenhouse system and to buy and install a fence around the acre of land.

2. The village secures volunteers from the village area to contribute their labour (free) to plant the crop, oversee the community garden, and manage the operation. The greenhouse at the Ndandini Primary School which has been started already will serve as the training ground for these volunteers.

3. All proceeds from the community garden crops would be used to fund the operation of the well in order to keep the cost of the water as low as possible.

I am looking for expressions of interest and donations from all parties who may be interested in participating in the project to get a community garden implemented at Ndandini.

The greenhouse that we have installed at the Ndandini Primary school is performing wonderfully. After only 2 months of us buying it for the school, the tomato plants are already starting to flower! This proves that the community garden would be a great support project for the well and the village. Take a look at all the tomato plants in the first greenhouse.

You may make a contribution to this project by clicking on the "Donate Here" area at the top right of this blog. Or contact me at terryumbach@gmail.com . Thanks

For your interest, an acre of land would potentially allow the village to eventually install 6 or 7 greenhouses. Amiran Kenya, the supplier of the greenhouse system, has documented that the proceeds from one year of crops is enough to buy another greenhouse. So, this could be the start of a very worthwhile economic development project for the village.

Terry

Tomato Plants Are Growing/Visitors at Ndandini!

2010-10-14T10:06:00.000-07:00

This week we delivered a camera to Ndandini so that the teachers can send us photos. Here is the first photo from them.

It is GREAT to see the progress they have made with growing their first crop of tomatoes. This is what it looked like only a month ago.

This week Greg Jewett (from our partner Rotary Club in Saint John NB) and Jon (a reporter from the Telegraph Journal in Saint John) visited Ndandini. Greg has been teaching the teachers on how to use the internet so we expect to hear lots more from them.

Jane and Titus are two of the teachers at Ndandini Primary School. Here is "Our First Email" sent from them:

Our school is appreciating all the services you people from Canada (and Rotary clubs around the world) are giving to us ,indeed we are very grateful and we still request you to continue with the good work .
yours faithfully jane and titus .

Here is what Greg has posted on his blog about their visit:

On October 14th:
Jon and I have been here in Ndandini now for a couple of days. This is the first chance I've had to get on the internet and update you. I'll be brief so I don't use up all of their internet time.

So far we have had a complete tour of five or six schools in the area, having visited each classroom and having met approximately 1250 students. We taught them all to "Hi Five" which was new to them and a lot of fun for us.

We are camping out in the generator room at the wellsite which is a really nice hotel room for us to use. The concrete floor is a bit unforgiving for my old bones but jon is sleeping well. So far no strange diseases or sickness of any kind. It has been about 35 degrees each day but we haven't lost our acclimatization from summer yet so it doesn't feel too bad. We are drinking about two liters of water a day though.

The well is an amazing accomplishment. Jon is writing profusely and we're taking lots of pictures. We have so much to tell but it will have to wait until we get home.

Willl update again soon, most likely from Mozambique. We're leaving for Pemba on Saturday. We will be sad to leave here ... so many new friends and so much fun playing with the kids.

On October 15th:
Well, a very emotional departure from Ndandini. In just a few short days we feel like we have become extended family members of these villagers who are so welcoming and hospitable. Their quiet and unassuming demeanors are such a treat for two boys who are used to a much more materialistic culture. We were treated to two beautiful lunches at the school. The only regret that we have is that neither of us was able to eat everything that was set before us. The first lunch treat was chicken and the second beef. We know that the teachers went to great lengths to provide us with these beautiful meals and we appreciated them so much.

I finished up today with what computer training I could squeeze in with the teachers at the Ndandini Primary School. The teachers are very eager to learn about computers and the internet and I had a great time teaching them. They are like sponges trying to absorb it all, anxious to pass it on to their students. Jon is spending his time talking to the villagers, getting their stories, and taking lots of pictures. We are going to have an amazing story to tell when we get home.

Duncan started up the generator at the wellsite today just for us to show us the whole system in action. It is truly amazing with everything running like clockwork. Duncan has done a masterful job in pulling this all together onsite. He is truly a master craftsman. He and his helpers were working at putting up a fence around the whole system today. Even at noon when the temp hit 40 degrees they kept going. Jon and I tried hard to find some shade to sit in but at noon at the equator there isn't very much shade.

After getting back here tonight to our two star hotel in Nairobi and having a shower we feel like we are in a five star. The generator room was a great spot to stay on-site, though. I was actually starting to get used to sleeping on the concrete floor...only woke up two or three times last night with an arm or leg asleep. We have a real bed to sleep in tonight, but I might have to move to the floor if I can't get comfortable :)

Tomorrow we head for Mozambique for the second half of our trek. I'm really looking forward to going back to see my old friends there.

Terry

Ndandini Update as of October 2/10

2010-10-03T15:25:00.000-07:00

It has been 4 weeks since our group attended the dedication ceremonies at Ndandini. And even though we are all now back home in Canada, Denmark and Nairobi things are continuing to happen.

The seeds have been planted in the greenhouse and garden at the Ndandini Primary School. There is much excitement waiting for them to sprout.

Our Project Manager Duncan is making plans to return to Ndandini on October 12th to complete the fencing around the well site.

From October 5th to 10th Aksel Neilsen, from our partner Rotary Club in Aalborg/Stigsborg Denmark, is presenting "The Ndandini Water Project Story" to the European Rotary Institute being held in Denmark. We are hoping that the exposure will bring more interest from other Rotary Clubs in what we are trying to do with our www.onevillageatatime.ca project concept.

This past weekend, Silas Oswe was at the Ndandini Primary School providing some computer and internet training for the teachers so that they can make better use of the computer which we provided for the school.

From October 12th to 15th, Greg Jewett, from our partner Rotary Club in Saint John New Brunswick Canada, and Jon MacNeil, a reporter from the Saint John Telegraph Journal, will be going out to Ndandini. While there they will help with the fencing project and also provide some additional computer training sessions for the teachers. They will also likely do some lessons for the school kids as well.

Joan Merrick, who visited Ndandini back in September 2007 and again with us last month, is working on putting together a scholarship project which we hope will result in there being donor funding made available to allow promising students to attend secondary school - young people who otherwise could not afford the us$120 per year which the government does not subsidize - and give them a chance to advance beyond the life of poverty which otherwise would overtake them.

I am working on trying to create a project to bring solar power to the secondary school so that we can also install a computer lab there. I am hopeful that we will be able to attract a couple of Rotary Clubs to undertake this project.

And just yesterday I received an offer from a person in Nairobi, who discovered our blog and has been following it, to create a website for the people of Ndandini so that their story and progress can be told to the web world.

All the support from our various donors, partners and followers is much appreciated.

Stay tuned for more news.

The ball is starting to roll.

Terry

FEEDBACK FROM NDANDINI PRIMARY SCHOOL

2010-09-19T17:24:00.000-07:00

When we were at Ndandini and installed the computer and internet link, we also set up several email accounts with the hope that this would encourage email communication between Ndandini and us donors.

That is starting to happen!

Here is an email received today from the headmaster at the Ndandini Primary School.

Terry

Terry,
We are grateful to have received your e-mail dated 12/9/2010. We have already bought the nursery bed-kit and we have already planted the seeds.I have started computer lessons at Kiusyani Market and am intending to train teachers and two pupils. Teachers and pupils are enjoying the t.v and the computer.Pass our regards to Rev. Clarence Li of St. Hildas Anglican Church and our beloved Christian Youth.
Receive much greetings from teachers and pupils.

Yours Andrew

GREENHOUSE CONSTRUCTION VIDEO

2010-09-19T17:20:00.000-07:00

Here is a short video of how the greenhouse got constructed for the Ndandini Primary School. There are also some photos of installing the solar panels, computer and TV/DVD.

Terry

Well Done! Well, what next?

2010-09-13T10:23:00.000-07:00

Well, the well is almost complete. And it has been a huge success.

From our initial hope for 4,000 liters of potable water an hour from the borehole to serve 600 people in the immediate Ndandini area we have expanded to actually producing 19,000 liters of water an hour and potentially being able to serve over 3000 people in the greater Ndandini and Kyaithani area.

All that remains for our original water project is for us to complete the security fencing around the tanks, borehole and generator building.

Once again, thank you everyone who contributed in any way since we started fundraising for this project way back in September 2007.

Well, what happens next?

In short, there are no plans for any additional extensions to our original project (to bring a well to the village of Ndandini.)

We have gathered an exceptional group of donors, both individuals and Rotary Clubs from around the world. Many donors have expressed an interest in what things might be able to be done “after”. We have tried to outline some ideas in our blog posts along the way as we completed this project.

It is our hope that those individuals or Rotary Clubs who have a desire to sponsor or get involved with any follow projects will do so.

We see many small projects that can be undertaken in the Ndandini and Kyaithani area. These projects do not require multi-club coordination and overall project management like the current water project did.

We have succeeded in developing a small group of responsible people in Ndandini and Nairobi that can now undertake some of these smaller projects themselves in cooperation with donors. For any donor who is interested, I can ensure that you get set up with the best people in Nairobi and Ndandini.

Some of the smaller project ideas include:
improved latrine blocks for all the six schools,
initial solar lighting and power systems for the other five schools,
initial computer, internet link and TV display for the other five schools.

There are also some bigger project ideas:
Implementation of the community garden and drip-irrigation/greenhouse,
Installation of a water distribution system to get the water closer to the people of Kyaithani,
A scholarship program to improve access to secondary and advanced education for area students.

We hopeful that the Kenyan government will take on the responsibility for the water distribution challenge.

We are continuing investigating issues and budgets relating to the community garden concept and will update the blog as we proceed with this.

We are also investigating possible ways of setting up an ongoing scholarship program. It would be great if we could set this up as an on-line fundraiser which can also issue Canadian tax receipts for individuals. Again we will keep the blog updated with progress in this area.

All the people of Ndandini and Kyaithani send their "asante sana" - thank you very much!!

Terry

A PROMISING MEETING WITH THE MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT - PERHAPS GOVERNMENT HELP?

2010-09-12T08:25:00.000-07:00

Today, Monday September 6th was to be our final day in Kenya for the group. We had set up for a day of touring and last minute souvenir shipping. But once again, one of those magic moments occurred. Terry received a phone call that the MP, Honorable Charles Nyamai, for the Kitui West constituency wanted to have a meeting.

So at 9:30 a car arrived to pick us up. Terry took along a founding member of our Sunshine Coast-Sechelt Rotary Club, Clark Hamilton. Meanwhile the rest of the group headed out on the prearranged tour. We would catch up later after what we were sure would be a courtesy call lasting no more than 10 or 15 minutes.

Well, our meeting lasted almost 2 hours! If I say that it exceeded my wildest imagination, I would not be doing it justice! I have had several correspondences with Charles over the past two years, especially over the past two months. Most recently to reply to his request for a "report" about the results of our drilling.

Imagine our surprise when he informed us that the government water ministry had tried to drill a borehole about a year ago near Kyaithani Secondary School, drilled it to a depth of 150 meters - and found no water! He explained that he was delighted that we had been successful. He then proceeded to say that getting the water that we had found distributed closer to the 3000+ people around Kyaithani was a priority and that he believed that he would be able to get most of the 4 million Kenyan shillings that the government had allocated to the unsuccessful Kyaithani borehole redirected towards a pipeline from the Ndandini well site to the village of Kyaithani!!

The meeting only got better from there. Other potential sources of government funding were outlined. Resources to provide potential assistance in management, proper accounting and fiduciary tracking, and provision of an agronomist were discussed. Frankly, I was astonished. He personally had founded an NGO (non-governmental organization) in 2006, prior to his election as an MP in 2008, to help the area achieve an improved level of economic development. He is the Chairman of a technical services engineering company in Nairobi. He called in seven of the resources from the NGO that he personally supports for them to be a part of the meeting and witness his support of our efforts in Ndandini.

In conclusion, he expressed his hope that we would partner with them in helping with the economic development of the area around Ndandini and Kyaithani. To my surprise, never once was there a request for funding of the NGO. Only a hope that our donors would see the needs of the area and find it in their hearts to continue to support the economic development of the area in whatever way they saw fit.

We too hope that what we have done (to bring water, the greenhouse, solar power for the one primary school, and one TV and computer with internet link) will only be a start in our original dream of "adopting" Ndandini and making our efforts there a model on how others can help other villages "One Village At A Time". I hope that everyone is proud that you are a part of our success! I hope too that we have all learned more about life in villages like Ndandini and have become more sensitive to how a little bit of help applied for specific purposes can make a huge difference to the future of many people.

I will keep you posted on our progress with completing the final phases of our current project: the fencing of the well site, the fencing of the greenhouse/garden area at the Ndandini Primary School, and hopefully the start of a community garden in Ndandini.

Thanks again. Your ongoing interest and support is appreciated.

For anyone interested in communicating directly with the Ndandini school or the Ndandini Water Project Management Committee, we have set up several email addresses, depending on the target audience. I encourage you to start communicating with them. It is amazing what can happen when people around the world start talking and applying their knowledge and resources to problems and opportunities. Be sure to indicate who you are and why you are interested in them and the area.

To reach Kimali, the Chairman of the Ndandini Water Project Management Committee, use email address kimalins21@gmail.com

To reach the headmaster and deputy headmaster (who is also the person responsible for the greenhouse) at Ndandini Primary School use email address ndandinihead@gmail.com

To reach the teachers of Ndandini Primary School use email address ndandiniteachers@gmail.com

To reach the students of Ndandini Primary School use email address ndandinistudents@gmail.com

All email addresses are administered by teachers but corespondance between two individuals is okay as long as email content is appropriate.

Terry

HOW MUCH WATER IS 19,000 LITERS PER HOUR?

2010-09-11T12:15:00.000-07:00

The well project has been a tremendous success, thanks to everyone's support!

I thought that I would try to show you how much water you have made available to Ndandini and the surrounding Kyaithani area. Here are a few short video clips - total time is only a minute.

You will see 19,000 liters of water an hour being pumped directly from the borehole.

Then the water overflowing from the 48,000 liter storage tanks which we filled in only 2.5 hours.

Then up to four 20 liter jerrycans being filled in less than 20 seconds.

And finally kids enjoying the overflowing water during the dedication ceremony on September 5, 2010.

Thanks everyone for your kind support and donations which made all this possible!

Terry

(Please ignore the 1-7 of 15 panel at the end of the videos)

DEDICATION DAY - SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 5, 2010

2010-09-08T14:59:00.000-07:00

Since our last blog, our group from Sechelt and Nanaimo (British Columbia, Canada) has had a fantastic safari. We experienced a new luxurious lodge in Samburu. Set very high on a huge rock outcropping, the open-air rooms looked out over the most awe-inspiring view of the huge valley with unbelievable views of the mountains and sunsets.

This lodge has been built in cooperation with the local Kalama Maasai people so our stay was filled with cultural experiences as well as great game drives. For me, it was a total contrast after spending a week camping in a tent out at Ndandini. For Jan and the other four ladies who had just flown back from Mount Kilimanjaro after spending eight days climbing that mountain, it was like a completely different world! We all had a few days to give our bodies some needed rest and relaxation.

Then, after flying on to the Maasai Mara, we enjoyed four days packed full of the most unbelievable game viewing experiences. The weather was much cooler and with more showers than we have ever experienced at this time of year but that seemed to keep the animals more active during the day - so it was non-stop action. No one wanted it to end.

But we were all also looking forward to our trip out to Ndandini for the dedication/celebration day for the well and greenhouse.

After flying back to Nairobi from the Mara on Saturday September 4th and then riding our bus for 3 1/2 hours to Kitui over some very bad and dusty roads and the very dangerous Mombasa highway, we checked in to the Parkside Villas hotel complex. The sun was just setting as we arrived. I wish I could tell you how everyone was feeling as our bus drove through Kitui, with each turn into a new street becoming less developed and poorer, until we finally entered a dirt track that the bus could barely negotiate. I was at the front of the bus and could just feel the anxiety in the air as to "where is he taking us". Then right at the end of the track were the gates to the hotel yard. While still quite basic, for this part of the world it offers quite acceptable accommodation and food.

We soon all gathered for an evening group dinner and a chance to talk with Kimali, the chairman of the Water Management Committee and principal of the Kyaithani Secondary School.

But before I get into that, I need to mention a couple of things, First is that we were joined in Nairobi by Aksel Nielsen, our project supporter from the Aalborg/Stigsborg Denmark Rotary Club. It was great to have another of our partner clubs join us to visit the project and experience the excitement of its dedication.

The other is that when I had returned to Nairobi a little over a week ago, Duncan and I attended the Rotary club meeting of our host partner Rotary club, Nairobi Industrial Area. There, I had the opportunity to update them with the progress that we have made at Ndandini. I also told them about the excitement of the teachers at Ndandini Primary School upon receiving the new computer. And I also told them that the teachers were in real need of some basic computer training. I asked them if they could think of any way that we could perhaps find someone to go out to the village for a weekend to conduct some computer training for the teachers. Imagine my surprise when a guest at the meeting from Nairobi came over and told me that he would be interested in doing that! This project has had so many magic moments like this one! So I invited him to come along with us on our trip to the village for the dedication and he accepted - so Silas Oswe was also with us on the trip. More on this later in this blog - keep reading. Rounding out the group was Duncan, our invaluable project manager.

Everyone got the chance to meet each other and chat informally. After dinner Kimali talked to us all for a short time and everyone was very impressed with his grasp of the issues, his plans for the Committee, his eloquance and his dedication to helping improve the lives of the people in the sub-area in which Ndandini and Kyaithani are located.

8am on Sunday saw us all on the bus and headed out of Kitui. Very quickly we turned off the paved road for the hour and a half bumpy ride on the dusty road which quickly became single lane and ultimately not much more than a track.

The dry river crossings with people scooping for water and miles of travel seeing mostly donkeys carrying jerry cans of water, or people carrying them themselves reminded us all about why we were here. That water is so essential and that getting it takes so much time and effort for so many people in this and many parts of the world.

The official agenda for the day at the village was scheduled to start about 11am, so we had allowed about an hour and a half to take a very quick tour of the other schools in the area before going to the Ndandini Primary School to start the day. Our bus driver did a fabulous job of negotiating what in most cases was nothing more than a double track footpath to get us to each of the school yards for the four other primary schools and the secondary school.

Our welcome at the very first school set the tone for the day. Our arrival interrupted a couple of "Sunday School" classes where the kids were so cute and so excited at our arrival. Everyone immediately got into talking with the children and teachers and enjoying the time together.

At each school we also got to see the state of the school buildings and toilets and various attempts at trying to collect whatever rain might fall.

Everywhere everyone looked we all saw lots of little potential "projects" that could help. At every school we met interested parents who were so eager to show us the work that they had done to build the school or contribute to its operation. We all wished that somehow we could share this experience with teachers and parents in the schools where we live. These schools only function because of the active support of the parents on an ongoing basis. And these little children walk miles to and from school every day so that they can get an education!

The six schools that we visited today were:
Nthilani Primary School (motto: Strive to Excel)
Ndunguni Primary School
Muusini Primary School (Hard Work Pays)
Kyaithani Primary School
Kyaithani Secondary School
Ndandini Primary School (Education is Life)

With only 15 minutes at each school, all too soon we had to leave but by 11am everyone already felt that we all knew so much more about the area and the people who live here.

Our last stop before Ndandini was at the Kyaithani Secondary School. This is a new school just opened in 2009 with only two grades and classrooms. The challenge is to get a new classroom built each year so that the students can continue their education here as they strive to be able to move on to university.

While here we were treated to some singing by the entire school population - what an emotional experience - such fantastic harmony coming from these young people!

We learned that it costs 8000 Kenyan shilllings for a student to attend for a year - that's only about $120 to us but an almost impossible amount for them. A very sobering thought for us all as each of us thought about all the $120's that we spend throughout the year with little to show for it at the end of the year.

Some of the group got so caught up in the excitement of chatting with the students that they joined the students as they walked to the Ndandini Primary schoolgrounds. Later we all laughed as they recounted to us their thoughts after a half hour of walking in the hot sun about how much further Ndandini was and how the answer each time was "not too far"!

Our driver managed to negotiate the bus all the way to the school for the rest of us and there we all got reunited and joined with four members of our host Nairobi Industrial Area Rotary club who had also come out for the day. With each passing minute more and more villagers arrived and soon there was a large gathering.

It was impossible to contain the enthusiasm of all the villagers and ourselves. Too much to see - to many questions to answer. So for a few minutes everyone got to satisfy their most pressing interests - whether it was inspecting the greenhouse donated by St. Hilda's Anglican church or delivering some much needed sporting equipment for the students to the Ndandini teachers.

While that was going on, we unloaded another big surprise. While back in Nairobi and before we did our safari, we had purchased a 32" LCD TV and DVD player so that we could turn the one classroom (in which we had installed solar lights and power) into a audio/visual equipped training room. Now we could display in high definition (HDMI) on the TV the images from the computer screen. We can show to the entire class the Planet Earth DVD's from North America that we had brought. With the new DVD player we could also show local and European DVD's on the TV.

The excitement of the TV's arrival was something to behold.

Even more interesting to watch was everyone's effort at unloading the large metal "cage" from the roof of the bus which will be installed in the classroom and house the TV securely.

That was quite the effort and the students especially enjoyed trying to show us how "many hands make light work" as 10 or 15 of them tried to help carry it and manipulate it through the classroom doorway.

Now that doorway was quite interesting and clearly had a height designed for primary school students as several Rotarian heads discovered (especially Aksel's) and carried home bruises to prove it!

Soon the short program of formalities at the school got underway - to dedicate the greenhouse, the solar system and the computer/TV/internet link.

After appropriate introductions of Kenyan and international guests, an explanation by me (with translation) of how the project happened and all the people who had donated to make it possible, and a formal "thank you" from the village, we then were lead in a dedication prayer by the local AIC pastor Kitiwa. Then the local villagers and students got to participate!

The singing and dancing were so special as each performance thanked us for the water and the greenhouse and for helping improve their education.

The absolute highlight was a performance by 25 of the most adorable pre-school children you could ever see. They had walked all the way from the very first school that we stopped at to get here! As their performance unfolded, in absolutely clear and perfect English, we watched as sometimes groups of 3 or 4, or sometimes only 1, would continue to shout out the story line of what they hoped to become and how much they appreciated our help in giving them education. We were so moved! We asked them to repeat it several times so we could film it and just plain enjoy it over and over.

No important village celebration gathering can be compete without eating - and the village ladies had prepared ugali and veggies and cooked goat for everyone - so our carefully prepared boxed lunches on the bus remained on the bus and we all gratiously (if not enthusiastically) enjoyed the bowl of food that we were given for lunch. They had even brought soft drinks for us!

While eating lunch, Terry got to chat with the personal assistant of the Member of Parliament for the constituency that Ndandini is in. He indicated that the MP was very supportive of the things that were happening in Ndandini. That was encouraging as Terry wonders about what would be discussed at a personal meeting with the MP in Nairobi on Monday to which he was invited.

With a new burst of energy, after lunch in the heat of the day under a bright blue sky we all started our walk to the well site.

We had arranged this specifically to give us guests an appreciation for what walking to the well is like. Based on the reaction of the group, I am glad that I didn't have everyone carry a 20 liter jerry can of water as well!!

Some thought it would be closer than others and all discovered what walking 2.5 km in the hot sun is like. Everyone learned form the experience - especially those who took the opportunity to talk with all the villagers and children that accompanied us. Afterwards, and every day since, we continue to be amazed at all the knowledge that we have gained from individual conversations that occurred during the walk. It was an excellent time to mingle with the villagers.

At the well site, Terry gave a brief explanation (with translation) to the large crowd of how the well worked. How water was pumped from 90 meters down in the ground into the three large tanks; how the machine in the building created electricity to run the pump; and how the water would flow to the kiosk and out of the four taps into their jerry cans. He explained that if one used the hand pump at the shallow well and pumped very hard that you could fill a 20 liter jerry can in 1 minute. And how that same jerry can could be filled in only 20 seconds under the new taps at the kiosk. Terry then asked the crowd how long it would take them to fill that jerry can when scooping in the river - and got consensus that it would likely take 20 MINUTES!

A short dedication prayer for the water was given by the area Bishop and Kimali stressed to the people that the water was not owned by the white people - that it had been given to them and that they had the responsibility to use it for the benefit of the community.

The Water Management Committee had asked Terry to also make a major announcement - that for one month, to encourage them all to try the clean water the water would be FREE. That was met with great shouts of happiness and thankfulness!!

We explained that the three tanks were already full of clean water and that there was enough water in them to fill 2,400 jerry cans. We also told them that we would show them how much water the well can produce. We told them to watch the overflow outlets at the top of the three tanks but to be careful that they did not get wet. Then we started the generator.

Immediately the crowd made a mad rush to distance themselves from the tanks where they had been sitting. Soon we all saw the first dribbles of water from the first tank and within a minute water was pouring out of it. Soon water was pouring out of all three overflow outlets. What an amazing sight ensued. The children especially enjoyed touching the stream of water. That soon became the enjoyment of splashing in it until their clothes were soaked. One little guy enjoyed "showering" his shaven head. Others rushed to collect whatever bottle they could find to fill and drink the water.

Everyone now knows that there really is water here. We let the water run for a while to ensure that they knew it was for real and that there was lots. Meanwhile other people were trying the taps at the kiosk and the local musical group set up and started performing.

It was a great climax to a lot of hard work and anticipation. I wish that every donor had been able to be here to share in the experience. And I wish that somehow we could tell the world how important water is to people like these who for so long have had it so hard to get water and now have hope of a better life.

All too soon it was after 4pm and time to head back to the school for the wrap up ceremonies. It had been an unbelievably emotional experience for us and for the villagers. We had told everyone that this was to be a celebration and no gifts - but they did not listen, so they enjoyed thankfully giving us their traditional hand carved (heavy and bulky) stools, gourds and baskets. Along with their advice on how to only use the small stool (me) because the big stool was for the lady and head of the house. And instruction for Jan on how to put the strap around her forehead to carry the weight of the attached basket!

Before the day's event concluded, Silas announced that he would be returning to the village in late September to conduct a teacher training course for the donated computer. The teachers were really excited to hear that. And we were so thankful that Silas had decided to get involved in the computer aspect of the project.

Leaving was very hard. But we all have the satisfaction of knowing that three years of very hard work and the donations of all our partners within Rotary, the individuals who donated to www.OneVillageAtATime.ca , and the generosity of the congregation of St. Hilda's Anglican church in Sechelt British Columbia have started to make a difference in the lives of many people here in the Ndandini area of Kenya!

God bless you - everyone!

Terry

NDANDINI GETS FIRST COMPUTER & MP'S ATTENTION

2010-08-25T11:47:00.000-07:00

It is hard to believe that my time here this week in Ndandini is almost over. Tomorrow morning at 8am Duncan and I get picked up to go back to Nairobi where we will be attending the Nairobi Industrial Area Rotary Club meeting I am sure that they will be most interested to hear first hand about the project and plans for the celebration/dedication day on September 5th.

Our day started with the well inspector arriving from the government water department. A formality in order to get our final extraction permit. Mostly it entailed him taking a GPS reading to identify the site location for government records and taking the meter reading and serial number (so the water tax guys know the initial reading and make sure we don't swap meters).

While the inspector did his inspecting, we set up our laptop in the kiosk and caught up on emails and updated the blog. The network response time is quite slow (compared to high speed internet at home) so we often had time to enjoy the view.

Then we were off to the Ndandini Primary School to finish off some minor work on the solar wiring at the Ndandini Primary school. It was interesting to see that the teachers have already discovered that a benefit of working at the primary school is that you get to charge your cell phone.

We also had an interesting day as we unwrapped a BIG SURPRISE. We had brought along a laptop computer with a Safaricom cell phone datalink! We first demonstrated it to Kimali, the principal of the Kyaithani Secondary School and the chairman of the Water committee.

Then we took it over to the Ndandini Primary School to show to the headmaster and the chair of the parents group. Disbelief is probably an understatement. Everyone is so excited that they will be able to introduce computer learning in the community!

It will definitely be a bit of a challenge to balance the use of the computer between the needs for email between the chairman of the water committee and me (as we begin the critical operational phase of the well), email between the deputy headmaster of Ndandini Primary (who is responsible for getting the greenhouse project underway) and me, email between the interested folk at St. Hilda's (who have donated the greenhouse for the school and are interested in building people to people links between the church and the school) and the teachers and student at Ndandini Primary who are so interested to learn more about the computer and the internet.

Just so it isn't all about email, I took along a 5 DVD set of the BBC Planet Earth documentary that the teachers can use to augment their lessons on nature. If only we had a projector so that these could be realistically shown to an entire class at once.

Already the teachers are talking about the need to share the solar classroom (with a power source for the computer) between all the schools - something that has never been done before.

So we had quite a "computer day". It actually started quite early (4am) as I tried to get caught up with my laptop in my tent.

Today we also opened up discussions with a landowner near the Ndandini Primary School about land for the community garden. We hope to have an answer from him by September 5th when we return for the dedication day about his willingness to part with some of his land. There may be an acre available. That would be enough land for the community to eventually install 8 greenhouse kits like the one at the school.

All in all, I think we have made really good progress this week. Most of our work to get the well to the operational stage is now complete. The only physical work left to do is to fence the well site and install some sort of fencing around the greenhouse and garden at the school.

After three years of work on this project It is really hard for me to comprehend that very soon the number of emails every day to/from Kenya will decline and the concerns about deadlines and dealing with remote vendors and suppliers will be over. I keep hoping that the work done to date to groom the water project management committee will be fruitful and that they will turn this project into much more than just a source of potable water for what is now several thousand people. I truly believe that they see the possibility of this being a starting point for real community development.

On a final note for today, we received a phone call form the Member of Parliament for the constituency. They were inquiring to ensure that they would be welcome at the village on dedication day and also requested that I provide them with a report about the well and its ability to provide water for the neighbouring village of Kyaithani so that they could use it to back up a request for federal funding for a possible pipeline to that village. It is much too early to have too much hope in federal grants but it certainly is better than disinterest or rejection!

We took one last look at the setting sun

and did a quick photo slideshow for some of the local kids that are so interested in everything we do.

There will not be many more blog entries until we report on the September 5th village dedication day.

Once again - thank you everyone for your encouragement and support throughout this project. We could not have done it without everyone's help and involvement.

Terry

MICRO BANKING COMING TO NDANDINI

2010-08-25T00:27:00.000-07:00

The full moon here has been quite incredible. The sky is so clear without the pollution and all the diffused lights of the cities in places where most of us live.

When we were here in May we were amazed at how green the vegetation was. We had never seen it like that in all our prior visits. See below:

This is how it looks now only 2 months after the short rainy season ended.

A couple of the schools have water tanks/cisterns to catch rainwater from the roof but even those are already empty.

Today, Tuesday, we had arranged to be taken by Kimali, the chairman of the Ndandini Water Project Management Committee to Kitui town (about 1.5 hours by car) to meet with the lady who manages the Jamii Bora branch there and would service the Ndandini area. So shortly after 9am Duncan and I left the wellsite in Kimali's car. You cannot begin to understand how bad the "path" is to get to the wellsite!

Everytime someone comes here in a vehicle I shudder. It was bad enough for the big drilling rig (which you saw on the blog) but for a little passenger car, it is definitely not something that i would do. I wouldn't even want to do it in our Jeep. About 200 feet from the tanks we got stuck. So we all bailed out to see the car sitting there with the one back wheel about 2 feet off the ground and the other 3 wheels in various positions on the deeply rutted path. I am amazed that Kimali was able to get the car backed up and then reposition the approach so that he could drive the car through the rutted area - even if the car was on a terrible tilt. We had other similar events along the way, but I won't bore you with them here. You should come and experience this for yourselves!

Anyway, we picked up others along the way so that by the time we arrived at Jamii Bora we had Kimali,the chairman of the committee; Andrew, the principal of Ndandini Primary School; and Japheth, the sub-area chief along for the meeting.

I had briefed them a little about the great things that the Jamii Bora Trust (micro-finaince bank) does. Not only providing micro-finanance loans to very poor people, but also offering them an affordable health care program. They were quite excited to hear more.

Our meeting did not disappoint! Zipporah the manager of the branch had been out to Ndandini to present to the village in January 2009 so she understood a little about the Ndandini area. She was very impressed that we had a new management committee and with the quality of the three men who had come. Everyone hit it off very well and I believe that a lasting bond was established. A bond which will pay great dividends for Ndandini over time.

Once a villager becomes a member of Jamii Bora, They must save a mimimum of 50 Kenyan shillings each week. That's about 75 cents each week. After 6 weeks they can then apply for a small loan of up to twice their savings account balance. But even more valuable is that a member can immediately start paying a health care premium of only 30 shillings per week (about 45 cents) and get free unlimited in-patient medical coverage for one parent and up to 4 children. Even pre-existing conditions are covered!

Tomorrow a baraza has been called for the Ndandini/Kyaithani area. It was originally called to talk to the community about the well and the coming September 5th celebration/dedication day. As a result of today, these gentlement are also going to talk to the entire community about Jamii Bora. The members of the water project management committee are going to become members of Jamii Bora as examples to the community (and also because they were so impressed by what Jamii Bora can offer even to people like them who are much better off than most people in the area).

I am so excited that today happened. It has been a year and a half since I found out about Jamii Bora and tried to get it started in the village. Finally it looks like the great benefits will be taken advantage of by some villagers and I know that with the encouragement of the committee, it will quickly spread.

The benefits of much needed affordable health coverage are within their grasp! And without any donor having to build a local health clinic with all the operational costs and difficulties that entails.

As well, the committee will be opening a savings account with Jamii Bora in the name of the Water Project Management Committee. This is where the income from the well will be kept. Using Jamii Bora for this will provide a means of ensuring proper documentation and accountability for funds received from the small water fee per jerry can and the money received by charging people's cell phones. We expect that water will cost about 2 Ksh per 20 litre jerry can (3 cents) and

I am so pleased to see the committee eagerly decide that this is what they wanted to do!

We had over 3 hours in the car together and it was a most enjoyable day. We talked about a very wide range of subjects and especially about community development ideas. The sky is the limit - limited only by the committee's ability to catch the dream and inspire and motivate the village.

Here's an example.
Problem: students have trouble completing homework because of lack of light at home at night. There are some 200 students at Ndandini Primary School from 50 homes.

Possible solution: from proceeds of the greenhouse, the school buys 50 D-Light solar lights at a cost of about us$1000 and provides one to each home that has a registered child at the school as long as they have a child at the school. Duncan has tested this light for about 6 months and after leaving it exposed to the sun, can use the light for 5 or 6 hours each night. The light is enough to light a whole room. Alternately, a family could get a Jamii Bora micro-finance loan to buy one light and pay off the us$20 cost over 6 months.

Result: students grades improve, money spent on kerosene for lamps is eliminated, and the air in the hut/home is much cleaner leading to less health problems.

There was also much discussion about ways to get the water from the well distributed to more people. The largest population centre is some 4km from the well and that is very long way to carry a 20 litre jerry can. We talked at some length about the idea of a community owned fleet of donkey carts to carry water and the employment opportunities that could be offered to men of the village to operate this service - men who currently have no employment opportunities. The committee would own the carts and employee men and their donkeys. The water would be delivered to schools, other potential storage locations and even individual homes for a slightly increased cost to cover the costs of the service. Imagine the benefits of women having more time to tend their gardens (and improve harvest yield) and train their children; imagine the extra time that students would have for homework because they are not sent to fetch water every afternoon after school.

By 5pm when we got home everyone was very excited but also quite tired from the heat of the day and the mental stimulation.

We are all looking forward to tomorrow's baraza. And after that I will be meeting with the entire Water Project Management Committee. No doubt I will be tired after that.

Stay tuned. I promise great news tomorrow!

Terry

LET THERE BE LIGHT!

2010-08-23T19:29:00.000-07:00

Monday was a day spent at Ndandini Primary School. Our goal was to finish the solar wiring. We succeeded and are happy to report that there are now two lights in one of the new classrooms and another light installed in the teachers room. The teachers and Andrew the principal were very excited and always trying to offer their help.

The school children are off on a break but there were some extra classes being taught today so lots of kids around as well. Sometimes the four windows of the new classroom were totally jammed with kids trying to watch what we were doing. We also installed a wall receptacle so that sometime in the future they will have a power source in the classroom to run a big screen projector so that everyone can see the images on a computer screen or perhaps watch an educational DVD.

Terry took a few minutes to check his email with his laptop inside the new classroom - just to prove that we can indeed do email and web access from the school. Hakuna Matata (no problem).

While the solar stuff was exciting and satisfying, the really big benefits of the day were the opportunities that we had to talk in depth with Andrew the headmaster and Eric the deputy head master of Ndandini Primary School, Kimali the principal of Kyaithani Secondary School (who is also the chairman of the Ndandini water committee), and Japheth the sub-area chief. Being able to talk to each of them individually for an extended period of time allowed us to talk in depth about the opportunities that the committee and the community can make real as long as they work together as a community and have strong and motivated leadership. Each of them said that the day was very informative and useful and we all agreed to get together tomorrow as a group to talk about some of the ideas that we raised.

We are continuing to investigate possible locations for the community garden. There is no doubt that the community garden "idea" has now become a village objective. Certainly the installation of the drip-irrigation greenhouse at the school has made the community garden concept very real in everyone's mind. Below is a photo of the headmaster Andrew, and the deputy headmaster Eric (above) and teachers Titus and Richard.

The more we talked today the more they all began to understand how everything can work together to help the community develop and for Ndandini and Kyaithani to become a model for village development. They told me that the district government and the federal government are taking note of what is happening. The Management Committee has extended invitations to all the various levels of government to come to the September 5th gathering. I continue to encourage them to catch the attention of their government officials while they can and while there are exciting things happening in the village. It is very rewarding to see them begin to become "people with a mission" and so focused on how they can help develop their community.

Some of you may have heard me talk about the Jamii Bora micro-fiinance bank and how they will send out a banking person to remote villages to encourage villagers to save money and help them advance by offering micro-loans. We had the local manager from Kitui go out and present to the village some 18 months ago but despite lots of interest, nothing really happened following that meeting. Well, today the key members of the Ndandini Water Project Management committee decided to go with me to visit Jamii Bora tomorrow to investigate how they can get Jamii Bora to begin serving the Kyaithani village and Ndandini area. They want to start by having every member of the Water Management Committee become a Jamii Bora member (to be an example to the community), and by opening an account for the water project so that the income from water sales and cellphone battery charging can be easily deposited in an account and ensure that proper records are kept. They are also really interested in how they can encourage the villagers to become Jamii Bora members so that everyone can participate in the Jamii Bora Health Insurance plan (which provides free health care for one parent and up to 5 children, even if one or more of them are already ill).

We live in very exciting times! For the first time these village people are seeing real opportunities that can make a difference in their own lives and the community.

We have water from the kiosk - each of the taps can fill a 20 litre jerry can in just 20 seconds.

And we have solar power at the kiosk for light and to charge cell phones for additional revenue for the well.

And this week it is a full moon making for beautiful nights to be sleeping in our 25 year old 25 tent at the well site. While I am here, Jan and a group of ladies from British Columbia are climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. They too were looking forward to having this beautiful moon to light their way. The summit of Kili is over 19,000 feet, and they are all hoping to make the summit early Thursday morning. They will start the last leg of the climb at 1am under the bright light of the moon in order to reach the summit just as the sun comes up around 7am. On Monday at noon, they had just stopped for a lunch break after what Jan called "an unbelievably hard steep climb". With the oxygen getting thinner as they get higher, it gets harder and harder to breathe, to take each step, and even to think clearly. We are all wishing each of them well and admiring their determination. Yet another example of people setting a goal and putting out the effort needed to reach it! Go ladies!! And Go Ndandini!!

Keep watching. There's more to come!

Terry

SOLAR FOR NDANDINI PRIMARY SCHOOL

2010-08-23T12:59:00.000-07:00

Today, Sunday August 22, we walked the 2.5km to the Ndandini Primary School - carrying the solar panels, charge controller, inverter, 40m of wiring and plug, switch and light fitting for 3 lights. We decided that we would leave the large 12v solar battery and have it brought by motorbike (I could barely lift it much less carry it 10 feet).

Doing installations in remote areas like this is quite a challenge. No matter how hard you try to plan ahead, there are always things that come up and you don't have quite what you need - so you improvise.

With some help from local villagers we got the solar panels assembled and a roof mount built and the panels securely attached to the roof ridge. That took a long time.

Then we managed to complete the wiring from the panels to the charge controller and on to the battery and 240v inverter. (I forgot to mention the bit about having to chisel a hole in the brick wall to get the wiring through into the small oom shared by the headmaster and all 7 teachers.)

We were glad to have this done just in time for our 5pm meeting with Kimali, the principal of the Kyaithani Secondary School who is also the chairman of the Ndandini Water Project Management Committee.

By the time we had done the solar work, we had quite a crowd of local villagers sitting and standing around watching. Most adults who arrived made a point of coming over to shake hands and welcome Terry "the electrician". Everyone is SO excited about having a solar system at the school.

We spent a long time talking with Eric, the Deputy Head Master of the Ndandini Primary School. Eric is also the school's designated teacher to be responsible for the school greenhouse and garden. It is great to see more and more educated and qualified people getting involved with our project work. It is very encouraging for the sustainable future of the village and its much needed community development.

Also by 5pm we were really happy to see quite a large group of people assembled on the school playground and playing a very active and vocal game of volleyball. In talking with Eric, he mentioned that everyday from 3 to 4 there is outdoor sports class. The only problem is that they have almost no sports equipment. So in order to teach soccer, they make paper soccer balls. Its not only things like toilets and computers that the schools here need, its almost everything including basics like pens and paper to soccer balls and volleyball equipment.

Then we met with Kimali for the first time - although we feel like old friends after our recent emails and "conversations" about the responsibilities of the Water Project Management Committee. We covered lots of specific and detailed topics relating to the well and the school, but also took time to talk about philosophies regarding various issues. Kimali is very supportive of what we have done to date and will play a key role in getting the local community organized and committed to things like the community garden, the operation of the well, and the support of the drip-irrigation greenhouse and garden at the Ndandini Primary School.

Wednesday he has called another village baraza (meeting) to talk about the well and the upcoming September 5th visit by the donors.

So the next three days will fly by.

Stay tuned for more exciting things which are going to happen.

Terry

BACK IN NDANDINI FOR ANOTHER WEEK (AUG 20,2010)

2010-08-21T08:55:00.000-07:00

So here it is, only six weeks after returning from Kenya where we oversaw the successful drilling of the borehole in Ndandini Village. And now we're taking those two long flights again to return to Kenya.

After about 18 hours in the air and an overnight in Amsterdam between flights, we arrived to a surprisingly chilly evening. Very strange to have left home in British Columbia where the daytime temperatures were in the 30+C range to arrive in Kenya to "refreshing" weather. We hoped to get a good sleep (which did not happen overnight in Amsterdam) but the 10 hour time zone change takes some adjusting and it seems that it is most noticeable when you try to sleep and your body thinks is mid-morning - so another restless, almost sleepless night.

We knew the routine so had planned for a rest day in Nairobi before we headed out: Jan to lead a group of ladies from BC on a climb up Mount Kilimanjaro, and Terry to go to Ndandini Village to oversee the almost final things to do for the water project. Trouble with a rest day in Nairobi is that there are too many things to see and do. So for our rest day we left the hotel at 9am and didn't get back until 9pm! Everyone really enjoyed our visit to the Daphne Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage, the Giraffe Centre and Kazuri Beads. The Daphne Sheldrick charitable organization does fantastic elephant rescue work for baby elephants who lose their mothers due to poaching, or by perhaps falling into a well and becoming separated from their mother.

The Giraffe Centre, also a charitable organization, works to help restore the rare Rothschild giraffe population as well as teaching young Kenyans about the importance of wildlife preservation.

At Kazuri Beads, this charity employs almost 350 women, mostly single mothers, in making beautiful beads from scratch which are then made into earrings, bracelets and necklaces - most of which are now exported.

Friday morning came very early with Jan and the group of ladies heading off to the airport at 7am to fly to the Kilimanjaro airport. Terry headed out at 7:30 for the "exciting" (as in dangerous) drive to Ndandini. The large speeding trucks heading for Mombassa on the narrow roads which are in very bad shape with huge sections of pavement totally missing and everyone weaving around to miss the holes and each other!

Terry was very anxious to get to Ndandini. This has been a very active week at the village with many exciting things happening.

Last Friday (August 13) our Project Manager Duncan picked up the Amiran Farmer's Kit drip-irrigation greenhouse and garden package and accompanied it to Ndandini. The technician from Amiran arrived late Saturday and construction began in earnest on Sunday at the Ndandini Primary School. Everyone was so excited. During the course of erecting the greenhouse, Duncan was helped by the assistant head master of the school who turns out to have a degree in Agriculture! Needless to say, he was very interested in the project. Needless to say, we are very glad to have his interest and knowledge!

The 8x15 metre greenhouse and outside irrigated garden were complete by Thursday - just in time for the arrival of the installation team from Davis & Shirtliff where we purchased the pump and generator.

Everything for the installation went according to plan. The plan also being to have Terry arrive around noon on Friday to oversee the completion of the installation and the start of test pumping of water from the well into the three large storage tanks.

We are very pleased to report that the pump does pump almost 19,000 litres of water an hour - that's 300 litres per minute. And when we connected the pump to the pipes that lead to the three 16,000 litre tanks, we completely filled all the tanks in 2 hours and 40 minutes. The kids were so excited to see the water pouring out of the overflow pipes at the top of the tanks - they just wanted to stand under it - no doubt their first-ever "shower". The only person more excited was Terry!

It's hard to tell you what a flow of 300 litres a minute looks like. Just think about a fire hydrant being open and you are close.

Today we did a test. We took a 20 litre jerry can and filled it from the shallow well using the hand pump. That took 60 seconds of hard pumping. Then we walked over to the water distribution kiosk which has 4 taps. We opened the tap and filled that same 20 litre jerry can in only 20 seconds. So if we have all four taps in operation, we could fill 12 jerry cans every minute.

Now its time to work with the Ndandini Water Project Management Committee on getting the water system into meaningful operation. That means setting up procedures for operating the generator, setting up procedures for recording water usage and collecting the money for the water that is put in the jerry cans, and getting the proper people to work at the well. These are significant times and these essential things must be done successfully if the well is to operate on a sustainable basis. We hope that Terry's time at the village this week will be well spent.

As part of the pump and generator installation, we have also installed the village's first solar system. The solar panels are installed on the roof of the water distribution kiosk and power a light at the site and enable us to offer cell phone recharging services. People in Kenya pay 20 Ksh (about 30 cents) to have their battery recharged. Money raised in this manner will go towards the operating costs of the well (for things like buying diesel fuel). We can also use the power to charge laptop computers so for the first time it is now possible to consider having a computer here in the village.

Speaking of diesel fuel - the generator consumes about 4 litres of diesel per hour. So to completely fill the tanks with 48,000 litres of water we consumed less than 10 litres of diesel at a cost of about 80 Ksh/litre (about $12.) So the cost of diesel fuel is about 1/3 of a shilling per 20 litre jerry can (about half a cent).

Stay tuned to the blog - we will have lots more to report as the week progresses.

We will be returning to Nairobi next Thursday in time to attend the Nairobi Industrial Area Rotary Club to report on the success of the project - and to thank them for believing that we could successfully do this project and for becoming our host Rotary Club.

Terry

Mid-august Donor update letter

2010-08-12T18:01:00.000-07:00

Below is the August monthly update to the major donors of the Ndandini Water Project:

Here we are less than one week until Jan & I head back over to Kenya. While there, we will oversee the installation of the pump and generator, the commissioning of the operational well and the long anticipated day of dedication by the village of the well on September 5th.

I hope that everyone has been keeping up to date with our progress and photos this past month on our blog www.ndandini.blogspot.com . We have been adding photos of the hard work that our project manager Duncan has been doing to get our project complete. Without Duncan's dedication to our project and his personal sacrifice involved in spending many, many days out at the village and many, many nights sleeping in his tent, this project would never have come to a successful completion. I know that all of you join me in a very big "thank you" to Duncan. I can heartily recommend Duncan to any Rotary club (whether in Kenya or overseas) that is looking for a project manager in Kenya.

This month's update letter covers off the following:

1. Status of our site work preparing for the installation of the pump & generator.
2. New members of the Water Project Management Committee.
3. Plans for the Drip-Irrigation Greenhouse at Ndandini Primary School
4. Links to new YouTube videos of our last trip during the drilling of the boreholes.
5. Potential additional follow-on projects?

Well Site Preparations

As far as the well is concerned, I am really pleased to report that everything on site is ready for the installation of the pump and generator. This is now scheduled to be done August 18-20. I am planning to be on-site for the completion of this work. To this point, we are also running within budget and do not see any overrun.

The dedication of the well is scheduled for Sunday September 5th. We are expecting many villagers from around Ndandini and the neighbouring town of Kyaithani. There will be a group of 8 people attending from Sechelt BC and we also expect several Rotarians from our Nairobi Industrial Area host Rotary club. There may also be some other Rotarians from some of our partner clubs.

New and improved Water Project Management Committee

I reported last month that because of the 18,000 liters/hour that we were able to pump during the testing, we were approached by the sub-area chief inquiring about whether we would provide water for the next village, Kyaithani. And I had indicated that the water would be available as long as it proved out that there was enough.

I also asked the sub-area chief to assist us in augmenting the composition of the Ndandini Water Project Management Committee to add more experienced local people and some with demonstrated leadership skills and who had respect from the government. I am very pleased to confirm that he has done this and we now have as chairperson of the committee the principal of the secondary school for the area (located in Kyaithani) and the headmaster and one teacher from the Ndandini Primary school are also on the committee. Both the principal and the headmaster have opened up email accounts (even though they have to travel some 25km by motorbike to the nearest cyber cafe) to enable better communication with them for longer and more detailed correspondence. I have also set up a system for almost instantaneous exchanges of shorter text messages to their cell phones. Since they have joined the Committee we have made great progress, due in large part to the improved internet communications, and I am very encouraged that the well will be a sustainable venture.

Plans for Installing an Amiran Farmer's Kit at Ndandini Primary School

Last month I mentioned that beyond the scope of the Rotary Matching Grant project, we had also received a donation of almost $5500 from St. Hilda's Anglican Church in Sechelt to be applied towards water for Ndandini. While these funds were originally collected with the intent of helping to meet the shortfall in project funding due to TRF's lack of grant money. St. Hilda's has now agreed to apply their donation towards "maximizing the benefits of the water from the well". They have agreed to fund the installation of an Amiran Farmer's Kit (drip irrigation greenhouse and garden) at the Ndandini Primary School. This project is being assisted by the Belleville Ontario Canada Rotary Club through their charitable organization. The Amiran Farmer's Kit is scheduled to be delivered on August 13th and to be completely installed by August 18th. We are expecting that the improved crop yields from this new technology, the first in the area, will significantly increase the food available for the school meal program and also provide some much needed revenue for the school. We hope that this first installation at Ndandini Primary school will be a model that can be replicated in each of the other primary schools and at the high school with either government support or by donors. We are also hoping that we will see the implementation of a larger Amiran Farmer's kit as a volunteer "community garden" to help offset the costs of operating the well.

Links to YouTube Drilling videos

Here are some links that you will find interesting. The first two videos document our experience in late May/early June when Jan & I were in Ndandini while the boreholes were drilled. We have tried to give a bit of a chronological experience so that you can share with us in the anticipation, the concerns and worry, the ultimate success and also share in seeing the future hope for the drip-irrigation greenhouse.

To watch the Ndandini Drilling Part 1 click on the following link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEqJOKp3F4A

To watch the Ndandini Drilling Part 2 click on the following link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ReBDc2NrOk&feature=related

To read a recent article in our local paper click on the following link
http://www.coastreporter.net/article/20100702/SECHELT0604/307029993/-1/sechelt/local-man-146-s-determination-delivers-a-well

Possible New Projects?

I received a couple of expressions of interest after last month's update email, about possible future projects to help the Ndandini area. In order to get a much better description of the kind of things that are on the "wish list" of the teachers and head administrators of the area schools I have asked them to provide me with their wish list. I am very pleased to tell you that not only have I received the wish list, but two very informative and well presented letters from Kimali, the principal of the Kyaithani Secondary School which will give you some insight into the difficult situation and great needs existing in the community. I encourage everyone to read these letters, share them with your club members and give serious consideration to how your club (and perhaps others in your area) can help this desperately poor area of Kenya. We have established a great working communication link to some qualified people within the Ndandini area who can help the community to help itself with a little bit of help from us, their friends. The well has been a great success. Let's try to follow it up with another outpouring of our "Service Above Self" actions. I thank you in advance.

Here are the two wish list letters sent to me by the principal of the Kyaithani Secondary School:

Jambo Terry

I am glad that Kenyans have overwhelmingly endorsed the New Constitution after peaceful campaigns during the August 4th referendum.

I am also impressed by the concern with which you have dedicated your precious time and resources to turnaround the lives of so many people in the village.

I strongly believe that education gives the learners the ability to fit in the society and to exploit the opportunities in the environment for personal and social progress.

It is my wish that you allow me to digress and tell you about the task bestowed on me by the Community to spearhead the provision of quality schooling to the young learners in the village.

I joined Kyaithani Secondary School in July 2009 as the Principal and I began exploring ways of improving the academic standards in the area. As a long-term measure, I conceived the idea of forming the Kyaithani Cluster composed of five Primary Schools that form the catchment for Kyaithani Secondary School.

The Kyaithani cluster has been fully operational for the last one year with tremendous initial results. The cluster mobilizes the management, teachers, parents and pupils of Kyaithani, Ndandini, Muusini, Ndunguni and Nthilani Primary Schools.

The main objective of the cluster is to improve the academic performance in Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exams by instilling the spirit of competition among the learners. The cluster has put in place measures, to achieve the set goal, such as:

I. Administering joint exams for all the learners right from class one to class eight;
II. Preparing a merit list and awarding the top performers in each class and
III. Organizing Guidance and Counseling sessions at which the learners are advised on strategies to improve discipline and academic performance.

We have set in motion the above measures and held several public Barazas to educate the community on the importance of supporting the education of our children and the response so far has been impressive.

As the Patron of Kyaithani Cluster, my dream is to provide the learners with an environment suitable for full exploitation of their academic potential.

It is at this point that I truly welcome your input in all material and possible ways to enable the Cluster turn its dream into a reality for the benefit of the learners.

I can now present a list of two items that each of our primary schools in the cluster can make good use of to facilitate proper teaching and learning of the pupils.

(i) An Administration Block.
All the primary schools in the Cluster lack this important structure and so the teachers have no ample space to carry out their duties effectively and efficiently.

The provision of furnished Head teacher’s Office, the staffroom and departmental offices would go along way to improve the productivity of the members of staff.

(ii) Modern Latrines.
The compounds are littered with collapsed or filled up traditional structures that served as the convenience rooms.

The construction of modern exhaustible latrines can provide the learners with a clean and stench- free environment for answering to the calls of nature.

It is my humble request that you encourage your Group of Donors to give a positive consideration towards alleviating the state of neglect and despair in the Kyaithani cluster Primary schools.

Your presence in and association with the community as well as the enormous financial input in the projects is an investment that will ultimately rescue the local people from the dehumanizing state of under – development.

Once again, I wish to give a firm commitment that any resources provided to the schools for the projects will be put into the intended use prudently utilized and accounted for up to the last coin.

I am looking forward to your consideration and positive response to our wish list.

See you when you land at the village on August 20th

Sincerely
Kimali

KYAITHANI SECONDARY SCHOOL
MOTTO: AIM AT THE BEST
P.O BOX 339-90200
KITUI

Jambo Terry

RE: APPEAL FOR FUNDING

I am truly pleased to have received your message of hope concerning the items our local High School would put on its wish list.

Before I put down the facilities necessary to facilitate effective teaching and learning a brief history of the school would be quite in order.

Kyaithani Mixed Secondary School is an upcoming teaching and learning Institution just started in the year 2009. It offers a rare chance to the sixty form one and two students to obtain basic education that would otherwise have been unaffordable in the high cost schools.

The existing physical structures (2 classrooms and an administration block) were put up by the federal government's Constituency Development Fund (CDF) and there is urgent need to erect more buildings to cater for the increasing number of learners from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The young boys and girls are very eager and determined to learn so as to qualify for specialized training in colleges that would give them a competitive edge in the labour market.

Unfortunately a majority of the students come from desperately hopeless households that cannot and do not provide the basic learning requirements. Many a time, I get emotionally and financially strained, when I have to provide food, teaching services, stationery , clothing and even kerosene to students who have nobody responsible enough to cater for their personal needs

A good number of the students are from poor broken families or from single parents while a few are total orphans. The local community has all along being more than willing to contribute towards the physical development of the school and well-being of the students.

However, the donations by the community are too little and far apart to match the numerous needs of the newly established school.

It is against this background information that I wish to present my list of three priority needs that would go a long way to make Kyaithani Secondary School a competitive institution offering quality teaching and learning for the benefit of the learners and the wider society.

(1) Two Dormitories
A lot of precious time gets wasted as the students trek as far as seven kilometers to and fro school. Fully equipped modern dormitories would create more time for studies , cushion the boys and girls from the effects of broken and/or hostile families, enhance student’s interaction and conduct, protect the youth from social vices such as sexual harassment and drug abuse .This would keep the learners in a controlled environment suitable for personal, social and academic progress.

(2) One Science Laboratory
Currently the school offers theoretical teaching of science subject due to lack of basic chemicals and apparatus as well as the laboratory structure.

The construction of a fully equipped laboratory would expose the learners to the important practical aspects of the science subjects namely Biology, Chemistry and physics.

(3) Computers
As the world takes the IT super highway, our teachers and learners remain largely computer illiterate due to lack of the necessary infrastructure.

The provision and installation of internet – enabled computers along with the solar power to run them would give the learners a chance to be technology / information savvy.

Having presented the wish list for Kyaithani Secondary School ,I am fully aware that the above items would require enormous amounts of money a lot of co- ordination and planning as well as follow – up and strict controls.

I am sufficiently confident and expectant that you can use your unmatched organizational skills and ability to make contacts with donors who are willing and able to make a lasting impact on the lives of many underprivileged boys and girls of Kyaithani High School.

On a practical note the items on the wish list can be addressed over a staggered period of time if need be for it is better late than never .On behalf of the School Management Committee, I wish to give a very strong commitment that whatever resources are provided to the School will be prudently utilized and fully accounted for to the benefit of the learners.

Allow me to get back to you a bit later after consulting the Primary School Management about their priority wish list. Once again, thank you very much for your concern about the plight of our young generation and for the consideration to go out of your way to alleviate their suffering from abject poverty, low self- esteem and hopelessness.

Terry, thumbs up for your willingness and resolve to make the world a better place to live in.

I look forward to meeting with you when you come over this August.

Sincerely.
Kimali

Thanks again everyone for all your support. The deep well will be in production very soon providing potable water for many people of the Ndandini area. Keep watching our blog as we will try to keep updating it during our trip to Ndandini over the next few weeks.

Yours in Rotary and for the benefit of the Ndandini area.

Terry

Links to YouTube Videos about the well in Ndandini

2010-08-12T17:49:00.000-07:00

We have just posted two new YouTube videos which show the story of the drilling of the borehole in Ndandini during our last trip there in late May/early June.

Here are the links for the current 3 YouTubes:

History of the project   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAplhxyQSeI

Drilling Part 1     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEqJOKp3F4A&feature=related

Drilling Part 2    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ReBDc2NrOk&feature=related

Enjoy.

Terry

Now Ready for the Pump and Generator

2010-08-08T12:34:00.000-07:00

After another hard week of work at Ndandini, our project manager Duncan and his workers have completed the generator building.

The plumbing contractor that we engaged has also been to the village and completed all the piping that will deliver the water from the borehole to the three storage tanks and ultimately to the distribution kiosk.

We are glad to report that the shallow well is producing clear potable water.

One of our donors, St. Hilda's Anglican Church (Sechelt BC Canada) is using their donation to purchase and install a 8x15m greenhouse and drip irrigation system for the Ndandini Primary School. This "Amiran Farmer's Kit" will be picked up on August 13th and its installation will begin the next day.

So both the pump/generator and the greenhouse will be installed by the end of August.

Plans are well underway for the September 5th village celebration and dedication of the well and greenhouse. So far we have a group of 12 coming to the village with us, along with a contingent of Rotarians from the Nairobi Industrial Area Rotary Club (our partner club from Kenya on this project).

Jan & I leave for Kenya on August 16th and I will be in Ndandini on August 20th for a week to work with the Ndandini Water Project Management Committee as we commission the water and get procedures set in place.

Keep watching for the exciting progress that will be made over the next couple of weeks!

Terry

The new Generator Building is well underway, piping soon to be done

2010-07-22T15:11:00.000-07:00

During the past two weeks our project manager Duncan camped out at the village and made great progress on getting the generator building well under construction. The foundation and all walls are now complete and the roof has been prepared ready for the cement to be added in another week (after the walls have properly cured).

We have completed the design work for the piping between the borehole and the three storage tanks and let the contract for that work.

Duncan will be returning to Ndandini at the end of next week, approximately July 30, to complete the generator building and the piping contractor will install all the pipes under his supervision.

Then we will finally be ready for the installation of the pump and generator so that we can get water out of our deep well! It will be a grand day!! Wish that we could all be there to see the storage tanks get filled for the first time. We do not yet know the exact day that that will happen but we are expecting that it will be the 2nd or 3rd week of August, definitely before the September 5th dedication day for the well.

The goal is in sight.

Terry

Water Tests Fine, Pump Now on Order - Ready to start Constructing Generator Building

2010-07-10T12:26:00.000-07:00

It does not seem possible that it has been over a month since we drilled the borehole - but much has been happening behind the scenes.

After many anxious days of waiting for the government lab to eventually get around to writing the Water Analysis Report, we finally got it and were relieved to learn that all tests on tghe water are within accepatble World Health Organization guidelines. So then we felt comfortable proceeding with arranging to acquire the pump and generator that will be needed to bring the water to the surface.

The pump test results showed that 18,000 liters/hour could be pumped on a continual basis without the level of the water dropping significantly. As well, within 2 hours of stopping pumping, the water level in the borehole returned to its original level. The government regulations stipulate that we can only extract water at 70% of the demonstrated sustainable pump volume during the pump test. So we will be able to extract 14,000 liters of water from the borehole.

We submitted the water analysis report and the driller's report (which showed that we had drilled to a depth of 90 meters) to our supplier of the well equipment so that they could provide us with an updated quotation for the pump, generator and installation work.

The good news is that we will be able to get a larger pump that is able to pump at the full 14,000 liters/hour and still be within budget! The reason for this is because our original expectation had been that the pump would be much lower in the ground (150m) and from that depth we would only have been able to pump about 5,000 liters/hour with a pump of similar cost.

So, with the funds that everyone has contributed we will be able to install a pumping system that really does have the capacity to provide water for a much larger community of people. The three tanks that we have installed have a capacity of 48,000 liters so if they were all empty, we would be able to completely fill them within 3 hours. What that means in practice is that we will be able to run the generator and pump much less than we originally had expected. So that will be good for wear and tear on the equipment as well as using less diesel fuel. All good news.

The order has now been placed for the Grundfos SP14A-18 submersible pump and the Lister Petter TR3 generator. Our project manager Duncan has been out at Ndandini for the past week working on constructing the building which the generator will be installed within. We are expecting the building to be complete around the end of July so that early in August we will be able to get the pump installed and operational.

Meanwhile, the members of the Ndandini Water Committee have been determined for the next year (as required every year about the end of June by the Committee Constitution ). We are pleased to say that with the assistance of the sub-area Chief (who we met while we were in Ndandini) we have some additional members who bring administrative experience, respect within the community and relationships with the government. You will remember that the community of Kyiathani (4 km from the well) expressed a desire to access water from the welll as soon as we hit water during the drilling. Well, we now have the principal of the Secondary School in Kyiathani on the committee. We also have the headmaster and a teacher from the Ndandini Primary School as well as the sub-area Chief on the committee. These people will make the committee much more respected both in the communities of the area as well by the Kenya government authorities.

So we are working hard to get the system up and running in time for the well dedication day on September 5th.

So far, we have a group of 8 people from here in Sechelt going to the dedication in Ndandini. We also have one Rotarian from our Saint John New Brunswick partner club that is planning on attending and then staying on at the village to do some work for the project. We expect several Rotarians from the Nairobi Industrial Area club to also make the trip out to the village for the dedication. Great to see the interest! We are expecting that there will be a very large turnout from the villagers of the area. If anyone else would like to be there, let Terry know. Arranging transportation and accommodation requires his involvment due to the difficulty in communicating in that area.

We have more good news but that will have to wait for the next blog post.

Terry (& Jan)

Our Last day in Kenya This Trip

2010-06-07T21:27:00.001-07:00

The sun is rising on another beautiful morning in Nairobi ~we can hear the birds singing (along with the baby in the next room) .
There are excited tourists wandering the hotel grounds waiting for their vehicles to arrive to take them through this beautiful country of Kenya to see the incredible wild animals and birds in parks like Amboseli and Tsavo ~and the annual migration of the wildebeest and zebra in the Masai Mara. Meanwhile we are thinking about the villagers of Ndandini walking down the dusty path to the well site with their donkey if they have one to fill their jerry cans from the hand pump of the shallow well that YOU have given them.

We have minutes ago received an update from the well pump test still in progress in Ndandini ~the pumping has been increased to 18 000 litres per hour and has been sustained!
What an amazing and emotional time this has been for us all.

This morning we must finish packing for the long trip home ~after planning the events of the last 2 weeks for so long we can hardly believe that it's time to return to Canada ~but return we must for there is so much to do to get the deep well put into production and additional steps taken to help Ndandini move forward with projects like the drip irrigation and the solar lighting for the primary school.

It is an amazing ride we have all shared this last 2 weeks and we will continue to update this blog for you.
Before we leave Nairobi tonight we plan to visit the David Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage where for as little as 50 dollars a year you can sponsor a baby elephant and gt monthly updates ~the work they do with the baby elephants who are hurt from falling into hand dug holes which people have dug looking for water - or who have lost mothers due to poaching and other issues ~a wonderful foundation who for many years have been doing a great job. Should you make it to Kenya don't miss the daily 11am chance to visit ~such an educational experience and SO enjoyable watching these baby elephants being fed and acting up like babies everwhere.
Jan and Terry

Significant Slogans

2010-06-07T20:32:00.000-07:00

ONE VILLAGE AT A TIME
It was September 2007 when we first visited Ndandini "Village". After seeing their dire plight firsthand we knew that without water they would forever be stuck in this barren backwater (so to speak) of society. So we promised to try to bring this small village area water.
In those first early days we thought about all the NGO and other government and charitable organizations which have laboured for many years to bring help to similar villages. We decided to try to create a model framework to utilize as much of all this knowledge and experience as possible. From this our One Village At A Time theme and dream came to life.
This dream encompasses much more than just drilling a well in Ndandini. It sees bringing a better life to the people of Ndandini and hopefully becoming a successful model that can be copied by others to do the same for many other villages "One Village At A Time".

MAKE DREAMS REAL

It was in 2008 that the Sunshine Coast-Sechelt Rotary Club joined with us in this idea. That year the Rotary International organization had a slogan to Make Dreams Real. When that slogan was announced for the upcoming 12 months it was a real personal motivator. We already had a dream for Ndandini - now just make that dream real!

THE FUTURE (of Rotary) IS IN YOUR HANDS

Twelve months later Rotary International comes out with the slogan The Future of Rotary is In Your Hands. Equally true was that the future of many things is "in your hands". Our Ndandini dream - the Rotary matching grant funding challenge - and each of our own lives.

We want to thank each of you for taking the future into your hands and helping.

BUILDING COMMUNITIES - BRIDGING CONTINENTS

For the next 12 months this is the Rotary slogan. They could not have chosen a more appropriate slogan!

Because of the huge amount of water that we all helped discover we do indeed have a fantastic opportunity to build a community in not just Ndandini but also several nearby villages. Our current project supporters and donors come from many continents thanks to the marvels of the internet. Who ever would have thought that "www." could bring us all together?

As we consider the possible ways that we can best leverage all the water that has been bestowed on the Ndandini area I hope that everyone will think about how they can help by Building Communities - Bridging Continents.

There are many exciting potential projects beginning to emerge. They will need champions and supporters to make them real and spread one village at a time.

Terry

Some perspective on water volumes

2010-06-07T12:17:00.000-07:00

Here is a bit of perspective to help you relate to the water flow from the Ndandini well.
The Kenyan government has a target basic level of 25 litres of water per person per day. Many live today with much less. One person we spoke with scooping water from the river at Ndandini told us that the 40 litres she had just scooped would serve the 7 people in her family for one day (less than 6 litres/person/day).
If the well produced 10000 litres/hour and the pump ran for 8 hours/day then the 80000 litres pumped could provide 25 litres for each of 3200 people every day.

You have provided a fantastic potential benefit to so many people!
Thanks again for your support and generousity.

Terry and Jan

June 7 Water Flow Testing - amazing success

2010-06-07T11:24:00.000-07:00

It's Monday night in Nairobi and we know you are all waiting to find out what is happening with the water from the borehole that has been drilled with your support in Ndandini.
The project plan was optimistically based on (1) finding water in Ndandini and (2) getting a flow of 5000 litres an hour.
The flow test equipment is currently on site in Ndandini (getting the equipment to Ndandini was enough for a comic horror movie that left us waiting at the village for over 2 days). As I write this huge volumes of water are being run into the Tiva river in Ndandini´by the testing pumps ~there has been a sustained flow of nearly 15 000 litres per hour! And it may be even higher. We were looking for water for Ndandini Village (perhaps 800 people). It now looks like we may have found enough water for the much larger community area none of whom currently have water (perhaps upwards of 3000 people).

The water has not yet been analyzed but it appears to be clear and not salty. The water analysis results will be available next week.
The villagers are ecstatic and can really not believe that all of this water is coming from 300 feet beneath their feet.
Today we have met with the water pump and generator suppliers in Nairobi ~David and Shirtliff ~to discuss our original quote for pumping ~the current tentative pump test results ~and the potential changes if at some point this massive flow of water needs to be extended to the entire community ~none of whom have water. But the existing funded (Rotary matching grant project) plan is only for NDANDINI village and does not currently have funds to extend the water to the community at large.

SUCCESS ~we have water and YOU HAVE MADE THIS PROJECT A SUCCESS ~THANK YOU!
To resolve how to get this gift of water to all the other people in the neighbouring area who need it will become the next project which we hope one or more of our partner clubs will champion. For now we are ensuring that we are putting in place the equipment (pump generator and piping) to allow for future expansion and distribution of the water to the community at large without restricting this expansion potential ~ can you help? This is a great opportunity and the water is already confirmed and available. It just needs to be pumped to these poverty stricken dry areas. We have collected some preliminary design and cost estimates for two stages of expansion. We also have the interest and support of the area administrative government officials.
Today we also visited Amiran Kenya to confirm the details and costs to install a greenhouse and drip irrigation system for Ndandini primary school and for a Ndandini community garden ~another succesful project waiting to happen.
Now let's also not forget the opportunity for solar energy in Ndandini ~we met with the solar division of David and Shirtliff to discuss technical feasibility and costs to install solar power for a couple of classrooms with 2 laptop computers in these classrooms. Remember that this is a school with no windows or doors and dirt floors in each class room ~but there is an opportunity to help Ndandini children to move forward.
So are you excited now ~there are so many opportunities in Ndandini ~please take time tonight to feel proud for the part you have played in helping Ndandini to find water. Now we all need to think about how we can each help Ndandini to move forward ~we have the knowlege expertise and money to do this!
Remember - we CAN Build Communities and Bridge Continents "One Village At A Time" starting with Ndandini Village.

Terry and Jan

Eye on Ndandini

2010-06-07T09:39:00.000-07:00

It's Sunday morning and we are still waiting for the truck with the well pump test equipment to arrive (to test the output capacity by pumping water for at least 12 hours).
So while we wait ~here are some observations from the last week ~it is one week today since we arrived in Ndandini ~who knew one week ago that both the shallow well and deep well would be productive and that the deep well would be the most productive well that our drilling crew had ever drilled!
The villagers are thrilled and arrive every day starting at 6am to watch what is happening at the well site. They come and go all day long. Many ´if not most´ speak only their Mother tongue which is the Kamba language. Some speak good English and so we can converse and discuss ~we try to use these villagers to talk and interpret for those who cannot speak English.

Many of the school children can speak a little English and some of the older children speak really well ~ however many of them are so shy that they find it very difficult to have a conversation and will look away and giggle in embarassment. Ndandini people are a physically beautiful people with bright wide eyes and teeth. They are very courteous and greet each other and us every time with their 3 way hand shake to let each other know how happy they are to see each other ~and this can be many times every day.

The children go to school Monday through Friday and Saturday morning for those who require extra tutoring but only for those parents who can afford to pay for the extra tuition. The provision of school uniforms and paper and pencils is a burden for these Ndandini villagers all below the poverty level. Andrew the headmaster tells us the average daily income is 45 Kenya shillings about 60 cents Canadian.

Today being Sunday the kids have been here since early morning filling every container they can get their hands on. By the way our empty water bottles are like gold around here ~for the entire week each bottle we empty disappears very quickly.

There is no garbage in the village since almost nothing is purchased other than fruit and vegetables. They do occasionally buy bread but that is a big luxury at 30 K shillings about 40 cents.
I asked the headmaster and sub chief about aids´female circumcision rape and safety (they were very open with me).
There has only been one rape and it was by someone from outside the village visiting a family in the village. We did read in the newspaper last week that incidents of rape in Kenya are increasing and the age of girls and ladies being raped is decreasing .
There is no female circumcision in the Ndandini area who are the Kamba tribe. Apparently there are a couple of tribes within Kenya who do still practise female circumcision as part of their culture.
Aids has a terrible stigma and I was told that usually the family only finds out that a family member is sick ~then when they take that family member to the clinic they may find out that the reason for the illness is Aids. The people I was talking to had a huge number of questions for us ~do we still have Aids in North America ~ can it be cured ~what happens in Canada to someone if they have Aids and they pass this along to someone else.
During our conversations they also were fascinated to find out that in Canada everyone has running water in their homes and almost everyone has a vehicle ~ they came back and reconfirmed this about 4 times . There are only 2 motorbikes in Ndandini ~there are no cars or trucks. There is 1 bus a day (that was a unique experience for us) that passes about 4km from the well site.
One day one of the village elders brought us a live chicken with its' feet tied up to say Thank You. Since we had no plans to be killing chicken and this was such a generous gift ~we said Thanks but he shoulld keep it for his family. The next night an old lady arrived with 10 eggs. She also had with her a young girl ~ maybe late teens. The young girl asked us for a job and told us she was a single Mum and asked did we have a job for her. We told her we weren't hiring anyone ~she was extremely shy and nervous. She then asked do we have a job for her at home! Just to imagine what a huge decision this must have been for her to come and ask us this question is heart wrenching to say the least.
Thats all for now ~our next update coming very soon will be all about the well!
Jan and Terry

Greenhouse Drip Irrigation

2010-06-05T22:21:00.000-07:00

Great progress continues to be made on different fronts. I believe I have already mentioned that the deep well apparently has huge output potential (to be confirmed when the well test pump arrives)~we stopped drilling at 90 metres after discussing our options. The drill stems(6 METRES EACH) were removed and the permanent bore hole casings were inserted on Thursday June 3. Now we wait for the pump test rig to arrive ~it should have been here yesterday but we are still waiting for it to leave Nairobi. Yesterday they had a water pump problem with their truck engine and as of Saturday at 2pm this is still in the shop being worked on.
On Friday we hired a taxi to go to the Matuu Girls High School (about 3 hours from Ndandini to discuss their greenhouse drip irrigation project. We took along the Ndandini primary school head master the area sub chief and the parents school ommittee chairman. It was a long but productive day ~the Matuu school has been incredibly succesful in raising and marketing tomatoes in greenhouses using drip irrigation ~ a project sponsored by CDF community development fund. It cost 125 000 K shillings approx 1700 U S dollars for a 8 by 15 metre greenhouse´irrigation piping seeds and training. They started this last November and are doing incredibly well ~already making 6000 K shillings each week. The headmistress was so enthusiastic and offered her assistance if Ndandini wanted to submit a proposal to something similar. As she said ~the secret is water and without it we could not have done this. Since they had their bore hole drilled the incidence of fever and illness for the students has also dropped dramatically due to the clean water.

While we were at the school the taxi had the bushings replaced on the taxi. There is no description that I can give you that comes remotely close to describing how bad the roads into Ndandini are.
The many hours together in the taxi with the area sub chief headmaster and school committee chairman were invaluable for discussing the future of the well project and the importance of the skills of the well management committe going forward.
We arrived back after dark feeling very tired. No one in Ndandini has a vehicle ~so the day was very interesting for our passengers but the long drive exhausted them.
Close to the drill site on our return a long fat pinky red snake crossed the dirt track in front of the taxi ~quite fascinating but I hope this is the only one that we see!
As far as food goes we have not been eating too much it's been too hot and we have been busy.. So we have eaten after dark each night fighting with the buugs who attracted either by our soup or by the light from our flash lights!
On that note I will close for now
Jan and Terry

June 3 2010 WE HAVE WATER

2010-06-03T00:58:00.000-07:00

Tuesday June 1 was a holiday here in Kenya celebrating Kenya Self Government Day ~what a great day to start drilling the deep well for Ndandini.

We are thrilled to tell you that Ndandini has water ~lots and lots of it. Our drillers are telling us that they have never seen such a prolific well as what we have drilled at Ndandini today. The pump test will start tomorrow Friday and that should confirm what we have been seeing ~water non stop. The water looks good and is not salty and the water analysis will be completed next week in Nairobi.

I only wish that you could be here to see every smile´ hear every Thank You asante sana and receive every hearty hand shake that we have seen´ heard and received here at the drill site and walking the dirt roads ín the community ~ they are so grateful to you all.

The drilling has had its challenges ~starting with the difficult road in here/ its a very remote area. The water we hit was so exciting but so powerful that it was washing away the drilled hole ~we had to mix and pour concrete around the protective top borehole casing to try to stabilise the sides of the borehole and keep it from collapsing and destroying the borehole. Then we waited 36 hours for this to harden before we could continue drilling.

So today we continued drilling and stopped at 90 metres when we reentered solid rock after having had water in great supply for over 70 metres of drilling.

Tonight it is quiet ~we are sitting under starry African skies listening to the crickets with the occasional donkey and goat talking to each other. The drill stems have been removed´ the casings inserted and all is well in Ndandini.
Our work is just starting in earnest now ~tomorrow we are heading to Matuu town with significant village people to discuss an important drip irrigation project being championed by the Secondary school there.
The Ndandini shallow well has been succesfully drilled and the pump installed this morning. The concrete base and casings were done last night well after dark with headlights from the Landrover and many flashlights lighting the way.
No matter how hard I try I don't believe I can explain how hard everyone has worked to make this so successful this week. Joseph Daniel Bernard and Peter from Naivasha Drilling but it is to Duncan Kamau our Project Manager in Kenya who has weathered all the challenges along side with us.
Terry and Jan

Drilling in Ndandini June 1 2010

2010-06-01T00:10:00.000-07:00

Here is a photo taken June 1 as we start to drill the deep borehole.

Jan and Terry

-original message-
Subject: Drilling in Ndandini June 1 2010
From: janumbach@hotmail.com
Date: 06/01/2010 8:27 AM

June 1 drilling photo

2010-05-31T19:28:00.000-07:00

Here is a photo of the drilling rig as we start to drill the deep borehole.

May 31 2010 Building Community Ties

2010-05-31T16:21:00.000-07:00

The entire day that we drilled the shallow well was a welcome and constant stream of the various community members which fit perfectly with our goals of discussing where to go from here. It fits beautifully with the Rotary theme for the next year of Building Communities / Bridging Continents. How great to have so many people and Rotary Clubs from several continents helping Ndandini to build its community from the ground up.

We had earlier worked with our project manager Duncan and set up the Nandini Village Committee and registered it with the Kenyan Government to manage the proposed well for the benefit of the entire Community including responsibility for collecting the taxes which would be due to the Kenyan/government for water taken from a well.
The Committee and indeed the entire community can today see that they will now be moving forward with their responsibilities.
We had conversations throughout the day focussing on how the community can now move forward and make progress and who best to assume the leadership roles and where to begin.
The Chairman of the Ndandini School´the headmaster and his teachers are all well educated and understand the issues and because they speak English this allowed us to discuss ideas´ issues and plans.
Many of the adults in Ndandini do not speak English ~ they speak swahili. Many do not relate to how different farming and irrigation methods can now be introduced with the availability of consistent water to enable more productivity and a healthier life. It is through teaching the children new ideas that we hope to introduce new knowledge to the community with the children taking the new ideas home and parents seeking more information from the school.
One such program is available and has been recently introduced into fifteen pilot Secondary schools in the Yatta District of which Ndandini is part. This program provides a medium size drip irrigation system complete with seeds and training to produce one crop. The crop can then be sold with the revenue going to the school to buy whatever else they need. The objective being that the kids take their knowledge home and convince the parents to use this knowledge.
In discussions with the Ndandini primary school Chairman and headmaster the objective is to try to get this project in the Ndandini Primary School since in Ndandini many children do not progress to Secondary school which is in another area. We are endeavouring to get a meeting this week at a High School that already has one of the drip irrigation systems installed as part of the High School program. This achool may be 30 km away and no one here has a vehicle so you can understand how 30 km can seem like 300 or 3000km to this community. If we can set up the meeting this week while we are here we will rent a taxi to take the chairman and headmaster to see for themselves and hopefully have them commit to a similar teacher supported program here in Ndandini. It will be at least a two hour drive one way ~ by very rough dirt roads.
The drip irrigation system is called the Amiran Farmers Kit. See more information at www.amirankenya.com

This week we also plan to visit the Ndandini Primary School to expand our knowledge for potential piping of water ~sanitation ~solar lighting requirements and agricultural potential for drip irrigation project.

Jan and Terry

May 31 Shallow well is drilled

2010-05-31T13:50:00.000-07:00

Thanks to your support of the project today you helped to Make Dreams Real for the village of Ndandini in Eastern Kenya.
At sunrise´which was very damp with heavy dew´we could hear the drilling rig and support vehicles struggling down the narrow track to the drilling site next to the dry river bed. At the same time the villagers were mãking their way to the river bed to their scoop holes to start filling their jerry cans with the dirty polluted water for their daily needs.
Some of the villagers have donkeys. ´Some share a neighbour's donkey´and others tie the jerry cans together with rope and then put the rope across their forehead and struggle up the river bed with the jerry cans across their back
- back breaking work. During the day we saw goats and a few very skinny cows race to the same watering holes to drink. We saw young boys lie flat on the river bed and lean down into the holes to drink directly from the same holes.
The sun heats up quickly and the drilling is set up and levelled next to its' sopprt vehicle which has on it all the drill stems´ casings´drill bits and gravel which is put down the hole after the drilling to surround the casing.
The drilling started around 8am and the first four or five metres of depth was sand - the rig operators were choking on the blowing sand as they shovel the sand away from the hole -this all done with the ear splitting noise of the truck engines and compressor running to support the pneumatic drill ~we are really disturbing the peace and quiet here today.
The community arrives all day long - they are in awe they have never seen any equipment like this in this entire area. The ladies gather in the shade with their babies ~later they cook maize beans and sweet potato which they bring to ourselves and the drill rig operators.
SUCCESS ~We hit water by 11am and there are huge smiles everywhere. Not the kind of water which gushes out and rockets skyward 50 feet in the air but a steady stream pouring out of the drill stem and soaking the mound of sand and rock tailings. Joseph the drilling manager beams his smile and assures us that we have hit a water supply that is more than adequate for our shallow well. This shallow well is eventually drilled to around 36 metres. This shallow well will have a hand pump so the volume of water production required will be significantly less than what will be required by the deep well which will be operated by a pump and diesel generator. Most shallow wells do not have long term sustainability - this shallow is being drilled as a backup in the event of a breakdown of the deep well or waiting for diesel to arrive for the generator.

After nearly 3 years you are truly helping to make dreams real for Ndandini Village and how we wish we could record and send to each and everyone of you every single Thank You being sent your way today by the villagers of Ndandini ~ they are overwhelmed by how their prayers for water are being answered by you ~ generous Rotarians and sopportive friends from communities all over the world who have never been to Ndandini but are helping them to help themselves and their children.
More reports to come soon
Jan and Terry

May 30 drilling rig heads to Nandini

2010-05-31T12:37:00.000-07:00

Sunday was a travel day - long and hot. We expected to arrive around 4pm but it was 10 pm and the drilling rig and support vehicles were still 2 hours behind us.
The problems included 2 broken fan belts and burst radiator hose but nevertheless we arrived and several of the community were there to welcome us in the dark with singing dancing and hot tea.
The last roads into Ndandini have been badly damaged and rutted by the heavy rains in the last couple of months - they are also very narrow so we know the drilling rig will be challenged getting into the drilling site.
We walked the last kilometre to the drilling site put up the tent and sank into the sleeping bags ~sank might be an overstatement the ground is very hard and dry!
Tomorrow will be the day we have been waiting for ~but Ndandini Village has been waiting for so much longer ~ they are so happy.
Terry and Jan

on the road to ndandini with the drilling rig

2010-05-29T22:50:00.000-07:00

Here we are sitting at the police check point in mikuyuni waiting for the drilling rig the land rover and the lorry loaded with the well casings and drill stems to catch up to us. It's been a case of hurry up and wait today.
We left Nairobi at 10 30 this morning with Duncan and George the taxi driver. We stopped at the turnoff for Machakos to wait for the drilling rig~~they arrived about 2.30

It's now 6:45 and getting dark and cool and we are only at the turn off for the start of the dirt road which will be amost impossible in the dark. George was supposed to be driving back to Nairobi tonight. We do kmow that they stopped to purchase gravel on the way (some of you may remember seeing the folks along the side of the road sitting on the floor manually pounding the large rocks into small pebbles) They also had to hand pump the diesel since the gas station had no power ~ yes we're on Kenyan time. Looks like we might have a long night ahead.
Terry and Jan

SATURDAY NIGHT IN NAIROBI

2010-05-29T12:15:00.000-07:00

Well (no pun intended) we arrived safely in Nairobi around 11pm Friday night. Today has been technically challenging as we try to get phones working with Safaricom so that we can email from Ndandini using the cell phone and keep the blog going while we are in Ndandini. The skies were blue with some clouds and the temperature comfortable - especially when the sun was behind the clouds!

We met with our Project Manager Duncan Kamau today and made sure we were all on track with where we are and next week's plans. We heard from the Reverend in Ndandini - there has been a little rain but no problems anticipated in moving the equipment into Ndandini. Duncan was also a great help with Safaricom - they all speak English but when things get crazy everyone lapses into Swahili and I could not keep up with my little Swahili phrase book (I am doing fine with Hello Welcome Thank You and Good Bye!). Duncan wanted to take us to the chemist to get malaria medicine but we assured him we had looked after that before leaving Canada.

We have purchased our dry food supplies from the local Nakumat supermarket and leave Nairobi at 10am tomorrow (Sunday) morning. We will meet up with the Naivasha Drilling at the Machakos turnoff at 12 noon - then lead them to Ndandini where they will set up their drilling equipment and may even start drilling Sunday night. The time is drawing near -we wish that all of you - Ndandini's great supporters, could be here with us - although by the time we've been without a shower for a few days you will be glad that you are not here, or at least not near us! We will stay in touch as long as we can get the phone working!
Jan & Terry

WATER STORAGE TANKS ARE INSTALLED

2010-05-25T22:26:00.000-07:00

The 3 large black water storage tanks are installed and looking good! Duncan managed to get photos sent to us from a cybercafe in Nairobi (after his computer equipment was stolen when his house was broken into). The photos below show the tanks arriving and being installed on their foundations in Ndandini, being connected to the kiosk by the piping, and the taps of the kiosk just waiting to deliver water to the villagers!

Meanwhile the ladies of the village continue to get their water by digging in the river bed - hopefully there will soon be plentiful potable water in these tanks that they will have access to after the well is drilled, and the pump and generator have been installed.

In case any of you have been wondering about where Duncan sleeps while out working at the village, here is a photo of his accommodation - 4 plastered walls with a an old foam pad on the floor. And he gets to keep the building materials in his room too.

In Sechelt B.C. Canada our bags are packed with our old camping gear and tomorrow we will fly to London on our way to Nairobi. One of the bags is packed with a collection of beautiful new Teddy Bears which we have been collecting and will be donated to an orphanage in Nairobi. Our Project Manager Duncan and his wife Catherine donate their time one Sunday each month to feeding these orphans.

We'll also be taking along a new banner to mount at the well site with the names of all our partnering Rotary clubs and other major donors.

Foundations for Water Tanks now complete at Ndandini

2010-05-23T11:14:00.000-07:00

Last week our project manager, Duncan, continued the hard physical manual labour of working with the Ndandini villagers using shovels and wheelbarrows to collect sand and gravel and complete the three cement foundations for the water storage tanks that were scheduled to arrive.

Below are photos of all the school children of all ages helping their Mothers with the work - they repeatedly dragged a tarpaulin piled with sand and gravel from the river to help complete the tank foundations. The Mothers did most of the hard manual work digging the trenches for the footings for the storage tank foundations.

The 3 tanks (each can hold 16,000 litres) arrived from Nairobi on May 17 and May 19. After the original bore hole (for the well) has been drilled and we've hit water, the bore hole must be test pumped for 24 hours to determine the quantity of the water that the well can ultinataly produce on a sustained daily basis. The plan is for these tanks to hold the 24 hour flow of water that must be test pumped rather than having it wash away into the sand. The excitement in Ndandini Village is rising as the villagers start to see that their hard manual work is paying off and dreams may soon be realised with a well soon to be drilled.

After the tanks were installed, the piping was installed to connect the tanks to the kiosk which had also been built. Kenyan law dictates that all water taken from any well must be taxed. So there are 4 water taps to fill the containers that villagers bring. There is also one meter in the kiosk to measure how much water is used by the villagers of Ndandini so that the water consumption tax can be submitted to the Kenyan Government every 3 months based on the water usage.

Unfortunately while Duncan was in Ndandini managing the delivery and installation of these tanks, his home in Nairobi was broken into. His wife Catherine was threatened with being killed and then tied up and locked in a room while the house was ransacked and many items stolen including electronics (computer, printer, scanner, DVD player) but the good news is that Catherine was not physically harmed although very badly frightened. Duncan has tried, unsuccesfully so far, to use a cybercafe to send us the photos of the installed storage tanks since his computer was stolen in this frightening attack.

This coming week commencing May 24, 2010 Naivasha Drillers in Nairobi will be loading their trucks with casings and supplies to do the drilling. They will be mobilising to head out to Nadandini on Sunday May 30 - this will be the drilling rig and support vehicles. Jan and Terry plan to arrive in nairobi late on Friday May 28 and will be heading out to Ndandini with Naivasha Drllers and Duncan our Project Manager.

We will stay in touch and hope you will follow what portends to be an amazing, and we hope to be, a very "WET" experience!

Jan & Terry Umbach

THE NDANDINI, KENYA WATER PROJECT

2010-05-23T10:16:00.000-07:00

JAMBO to everyone that is supporting our efforts to bring potable water to the village of Ndandini in eastern Kenya.

We have been working on fund raising for this project since September 2007 when we first visited Ndandini Village on the Yatta Plateau in eastern Kenya with a group of friends from Sechelt B.C. Canada. We send a huge Thank You to all our friends and contacts around the world who have been so supportive for the last 3 years by donating to the One Village at a Time project website which is still active http://www.onevillageatatime.ca/

During that time frame this has also become a Rotary project spearheaded by Rotarian Terry Umbach and the Sunshine Coast Rotary Club in Sechelt B.C. Canada along with donations and very welcome support from 25 Rotary Clubs around the world participating - from Spain and Denmark, to New Jersey USA, and several Canadian clubs from Saint John New Brunswick in the east to Vancouver Island on the west coast. St Hilda's Church in Sechelt B.C. Canada is another welcome supporter with a very generous gift from their congregation - Thank You again to each and every one of you.

We have now reached the exciting point where drilling the long awaited well is about to happen. This will be a deep well at about 150 metres so this has been, and continues to be, a big and expensive technical project requiring constant hard work and the much appreciated dedicated work in Nairobi and at Ndandini by our Project Manager Duncan Kamau in Nairobi.

We thought that having a blog would be a good idea to keep everyone up to date with events "as they happen" during this exciting period as we drill the borehole and ultimately install the pump and power system.

We expect the drilling of the borehole to happen between May 30 and June 5th and we hope to be able to make daily posts by email when we can (the facilities are limited) during our visit to the village at this time. Jan and Terry Umbach will be arriving in Nairobi (as long as BA doesn't cancel our flights during their strike!) on May 28, 2010 and will then be heading out to Ndandini with the drilling rig.

Ndandini is approximately 4 hours from Nairobi on the main road to Kitui. The town of Kitui does have very basic hotel and restaurant facilities. However, we need to travel a further 1 1/2 hours on dirt roads to the village of Ndandini which is a collection of individual mud huts with an estimated population of 1000 men, women and children. There is a very basic primary school in Ndandini with mud walls, rough planking desks, essentially no books and no sanitation or water.

This last stretch of dirt road to Ndandini is extremely dry and dusty, and Terry and Jan are today (Sunday May 23) packing our 25 year old tent and sleeping bags with some dry food supplies ready for the stay in Ndandini. We will pick up bottled water in Nairobi when we arrive to take to Ndandini with us for the expected minimum 5 days of drilling - we are hoping that potable water will be found and that water for the village of Ndandini will be the important first step towards a better way of life for all the Villagers and an end to the daily trudge for the women and children of up to 10KM each day to a dry river bed to dig by hand for water - dirty polluted water that all the animals and villagers share. So this is just step one and we are taking with us all the support from each and every one of you for a successful water project for Ndandini.

Keep watching for news and thank you everyone for your support for Ndandini Village

Jan & Terry