Go to Kenya! To get a true sense of what Water is Life-Kenya and Joyce are doing you need to have been there. Mark Manniso and I did just that this past August.

Getting through Customs in Nairobi, we were greeted by Joyce and three Kenyan friends. Next, we drove south for 50 minutes to Kitengela where she lives. The first night Mark and I stayed in a little motel. Out front was a locked metal gate. A guard sat over the motel water tank all night. After breakfast we shopped in Kitengela for provisions to cover our four-day stay down at the Amboseli Camp. Crowds of people of all ages, dust, cows, goats, traffic of bikes, cars, big trucks and clutter filled the streets.

After driving south for 2 hours, we arrived in Namanga. Here our first of 3 blown tires was fixed. Roast goat was lunch. Then, off to Amboseli 3 hours away on rocky, dirt roads. Thousands of Maasai are in this region. The people live in “boma” (huts) inside low-slung “kraal”, shrub and tree circles that keep out major animals. There are no centers or villages, every now and then a school. The Maasai choose to live apart in remote areas across which they wander to feed their beloved cows and goats. This sprawling spatial area without paved roads and no electricity has always been semi-arid. Life and nature here creates costs and challenges for Joyce and the WILK mission.

At the Amboseli Park campsite we slept in tents. Baboons, lions, elephants, zebra, snakes, a full assortment of world-class wildlife, are your day/night nearby neighbors.
The young Maasai men, who manage the camp, cooked the food we brought. Streams of stars at night by the campfire. The Villanova people brought marshmallows to toast! From this base we bounced/crawled over to the Imisigyio well Ceremony. The Land Cruiser (4X4) ahead of us got hung up on the rocky road. We had our second flat tire. Access within this area is most difficult, even for safari vehicles! The Maasai walk or run many miles per week. The only way the big drilling rig could get to Imisigyio was around through Tanzania!

Meshenani lies roughly 14 miles north from our tent camp. The Villanova team met with the people there exploring concrete ways they could raise income and organize herd sizes to fit with vegetation and weather. Bernard Tulito is organizing the community into three groups. In the Villanaova plan each initiative taken, such as raising handcraft sales or building a curio shop, will be accompanied by performance measures.

For some time WILK has provided income to women who make beaded products. Joyce, Mark and I visited Jacinta’s home. She is the lady who organizes, designs and sells handcrafts. Sales in the US support these women along with water projects. Jacinta discussed new items, new colors and future products for Christmas and group sales. To broaden their income potential Joyce brought six women from Meshenani (4 hours one-way) to spend a week with Jacinta. They were delighted to get diplomas after learning to improve skills and make new products.

Back in the Nairobi region we met with Mark Meassick, a US AID program officer. He said finances for programs like ours is limited by prior commitments fixed by Congress. His advice on many topics was most helpful. We also visited senior Kenyan Wildlife Service (KWS) officials. KWS manages large areas of land/water in the areas where WILK is working. Resources use conflicts between the Maasai are frequent. Over lunch we met Dr. Albert Mumma, professor of Water Law at the University of Nairobi. He agreed to work for us, starting with the legal papers to register WILK as an NGO in Kenya.

Aside from attending a concert where Joyce sang and a Sunday picnic in the Rift Valley, this was a run, run, run working-visit. We gained potentially important and direct contact with several officials and agencies; along with a realistic glimpse of the people and extensive area where Joyce brings assistance day after day. This direct contact makes clear that, together, our months of effort help many hundreds of needy people. Building relationships in one needy local area after another is the key.

Through the persistence of Joyce… and help from many people, like you, much more can and will be done.

Francis Tannian

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