I wanted to share the announcement of the People to People Delaware Award Dinner with you all. So many thanks go to all of you who are part of the Water is Life – Kenya team. You all should be recognized for your love, enthusiasm, hard work, giving of time and skills. Nothing can go ahead without you. Together we are helping so many people here in Kenya.

I know I’ve already shared this with some of you, but it’s worth sharing again. I can’t tell you how much my heart filled the other day at the community meeting when the people of Imisigio told me about their borehole. Last October, in what were, thank God, the last months of a hideous and devastating drought, Imisigio people used the borehole water to do bucket irrigation to start their tomato plants. At the end of November the rains came to add to their efforts, and now, those who had used the borehole water succeeded in reaping a great harvest. If you look at the faces of those people now, you see joy and success and hope. What a huge contrast to the desperation and hopelessness of September!

This is what our work has accomplished.

With gratitude to you all!
Joyce

I just wanted to share some REALLY GOOD NEWS with everyone.

At our meeting in Imisigio (first borehole site) on Wednesday, April 14, we asked how things were going at the borehole. Several people reported that last October, at the tail end of the hideous drought with no rain in sight, people carried water from the borehole to their fields and used it to plant tomatoes. They have gotten great harvests and are recovering from their losses of the last years of drought! They are really happy AND are very enthusiastic for using the water at the borehole site to do irrigation.

If we had tried to start the irrigation project before they had had their own success, it would have been much tougher to begin! They also talked about buying a mill to grind their maize into flour – the staple here is ugali – heavy cornmeal polenta – and the maize is high in the fields right now. Really gorgeous and tall and green in every direction you look.

They are really excited to have a visit from the local agricultural officer who will help with the project so they can learn about irrigation techniques. The community plans to start clearing the land next week. I have already met with the Ag officers in Loitokitok and we are scheduling their visit.

Everything we have been working toward, all the work that we all do – this success in Imisigio is the result – real life changes, real improvements, real development.

Thanks to all of you!!!

Joyce

Hi Everyone,

Here is an article about WILK in an interview of me written by Mary Welch, writer for Womenetics, an online women’s magazine.  She sent me a list of questions which I answered for her in this article.  The interview was arranged by Monica Tannian.  She met Mary Welch in Atlanta and, in Monica’s inimitable way, she made sure it happened.

We put the link to the article on our website (here and on our News page).

Love,

Joyce