Water Harvesting in Kenya

 October 2019

“A new exciting international project for our Club!” was the reaction of Noel McKenna, President of the Rotary Club of Dunfermline to the news that that the Club had raised the funding for its first ever water harvesting project.

The funding comprises a grant of £1,600 from Rotary Foundation, the main charity of Rotary, £1,500 raised by the Dunfermline Club and a further donation from the Rotary Club of Langata in Nairobi .

The project aims to harvest rainwater by fitting guttering and downpipes to the roof of the Nduriri Secondary School at Kaimbaa in Kenya and then to provide large tanks to store that water. This will mean that the pupils of that school and the nearby community will have access to a safe and consistent water source during the dry season.

President Noel commented that “Water is so important in this part of Africa and, quite apart from ensuring that the school will be able to stay open all year round, it is estimated that some 500 persons within 40 homesteads will also benefit from this project.”  Noel added “The members of the Rotary Club of Langata will be managing this project for us demonstrating the international reach and co-operation within the Rotary movement.”

Update – December 2019

Water Harvesting Project now Launched

The joint water harvesting project of the Rotary Clubs of Dunfermline in Scotland and Langata in Kenya has now been launched.

The photographs show Project team members of the Langata Club and  representatives of the Ndruri Secondary School in Kaimbaa, Kenya outside one of the classrooms where gutters and downpipes are to be fitted to the roof to catch rainwater which will then be piped to water storage tanks. This will provide a water supply enabling the School to remain open during the dry season.

In addition, the local community will have access to this water supply. In all approximately 500 persons will benefit from this project.

The other photographs are of Langata’s Project team purchasing the guttering etc.

The project cost of £3,100 is being funded by the Dunfermline and Langata Clubs together with a grant from Rotary Foundation.

Update – March 2020

I am pleased to report that this project has now been completed and that all I need now from our partner club, The Rotary Club of Lang’ata, Nairobi which managed the project on our behalf, are the receipts for the materials purchased and the labour costs so that I can complete the formal Final Report for District and apply to have this Foundation Grant project signed off.

This was a new project for our Club involving the in the of and consisted of fitting of guttering and downpipes to the school roof with piping to “harvest” rainfall into three large storage tanks. The result of having this stored water means that, during the dry season when the nearby stream often dries up, the school will be able to remain open and the local community will also have access to this safe and consistent source of water.

It is estimated that up to 500 persons – the school pupils plus some 40 households – will benefit from this project.

The project was funded by a donation from our Club of £1,500, a Foundation Grant of £1,600 plus a contribution from our partner Club.

We are greatly indebted to our partner club, The Rotary Club of Lang’ata in , for managing this project on our behalf; obtaining estimates, overseeing the work, reporting back and providing the photographs below.

The Lang’ata Club also arranged a hugely impressive formal handover of the project to which around 50 of their members travelled. Also attending the handover were 100 + school pupils with their teachers plus members of the local community. I have attached an e-mail below which includes a link to an excellent article that the Lang’ata Club produced about the project and the formal handover. It will be noted that their Club Members didn’t miss the opportunity to promote the work of the Rotary Movement.

“Subject: Handover - Water Harvesting

Dear David, 

As a follow-up to the last communication from Rtn Jannet, I am delighted to confirm that we officially handed over the Nduriri project on the 8th of February. We are now in the process of finalizing on a final report which we will share with you, please confirm if there is a preferred format for your district reporting. 

The event was hugely successful with an attendance of over 60 Rotarians , who also participated in tree planting and mentoring of the students. 

We have the story in our online district magazine 

Rotary Club of Nairobi- Langata is very grateful to the Rotary club of and their district for partnering with us to make a difference in this community. 

Regards 

Serah”