Where search for water is a day and night affair

By Ngumbao Kithi

At the first cockcrow, Nyevu Charo jumps out of her bed. She has barely slept, but lose any minute.

She is aware it is 3am, a signal that she must start what has been her daily routine for years.

Every day, she treks for many kilometres in search of water.

After a few minutes, Charo picks a 20-litre jerrycan, hangs it on her shoulder with a leso and begins her journey through poor terrain to the nearest water pan at Kwa Topo, about 15km from Bamba trading centre.

To get enough water, she makes about four trips, about 120km daily.

This morning, Charo won’t be making the journey alone. There are dozens of women heading to Kwa Topo. Here, the search for water is a dawn to dusk affair. The women are not looking for clean water. That would be too ambitious. They are looking for any water.

Most of the women remember making this journey as girls. Now most are married and have children and consider the tiring search for water as part of their lives.

"It is difficult even to be clean as is expected of every woman. We have become beasts of burden and in this water crisis. We are the hardest hit," says Charo.

With her eyes fixed on the route where local people walk in a single file as dawn breaks, Charo sounds worried.

She is worried because it is predicted the water pan may dry in the next two weeks.

There are signs already as the water is already slimy. It has a foul smell and even animals are avoiding it.

Yet if this Kwa Topo water pan dries, more than 5,000 people from Bamba, Ndigiria, Mrima wa Ndege and adjacent areas and their animals will be in grave danger.

"There is no food in the house but due to the serious water shortage, we no longer talk about food," she said.

UNWTRITTEN RULES

Upon arrival at the water pan, Charo and other women must perform some tasks that are part of the unwritten rules for getting the precious commodity.

She is directed to a corner where she puts down her 20-litre jerrycan and walks nearby to dig and collect soil.

The soil will be poured on the edges of the water pan to expand the diameter. An elder who supervises the work says the soil serves as an absorbent.

"If it rains, the soil will hold water. This means the size of the water pan will increase," he says.

Charo digs and collects some soil in an ambitious programme to expand the water pan before she is given a card to present to the supervisor of the water pan.

Happily, she scoops the dirty water and starts filling her jerrycan.

"This is one task we have all come to accept. If this water pan gets dry, we shall all die. If they say the soil will help hold water, then we have no objections to digging and scooping soil," Charo said.

The committee has cards with different colours for each day to ensure no one fetches water without providing the necessary labour.

A few villagers who have money however pay for the water instead of providing the labour.

A ruthless looking man stands guard next to the water pan and is the final man who decides who goes home with water.

He wields much power and at times hurls abuses and reprimands either to entertain or make sure the job is done.

Due to choking poverty, several villagers opt to labour in exchange for water.

Once given the card, the women wade into the kneel-long mud to get to the muddy liquid that passes for water.

After fetching the water, the women are politely asked to surrender the card to the supervisor so that one does not hand it over to a relative to fetch the same water without giving labour.

The story is the same for Kache Karisa but she says her situation is worse because she has no time to boil the water.

"My problem is that by the time I get home, everybody is thirsty and I cannot have time to ask them to wait for me to boil the water. This explains the several cases of diarrhoea and stomach problems," Karisa says.

The situation aggravates poverty because the women cannot engage in any economic activities.

WALKING BACK

"I spend my time walking to and from the water pan, a distance of 15 kilometres. By the time I get home, everyone is thirsty and all the water is drunk sometimes in 10 minutes. I just rest before walking back to this place again. What life is this?" she asks.

For Jumwa Charo, the journey in search of water begins at 2am.

Relatives escort her to the water point where she joins other women on the same mission.

The crisis has led to domestic disputes with husbands who complain that their wives spend too much time looking for water at the expense of their families.

Charo says World Vision’s supplementary efforts have barely relieved the villagers.

The agency distributes water mainly to schools.

The effort is to ensure children who are also beneficiaries of a school feeding programme stay in school.

"World Vision focus more on girls since most of them are sometimes forced to miss school to help their mothers fetch water," Charo says.

Those with livestock do double work since they are not supposed to water the animals at Kwa Topo.

Kanze Katana Karisa says she makes several trips to fetch water to cater for the family and animals.

"If there is something called crisis, I think this is it and if it does not rain in the near future and we do not expect it any way, we will all perish," Karisa said.

Karisa walks for about 20km to get to Kwa Topo. Her prayer is that one day this problem would be resolved once for all.

A villager, Kazungu Kenga Mangi, however, says the issue of water crisis is a mystery to Bamba residents after a Government put up a huge investment in the area.

RESIDENTS SUFFER

A huge water tank, which was put up in the last few years and officially commissioned by the Minister for Water, Charity Ngilu, does not have water for the thirsty local people.

The minister commissioned the 1,500 cubic metre tank on July 21,this year and since the ceremony water has been on and off as the local residents suffer.

"This is sad because the water tank was put up at cost of Sh28m and all of us thought our water woes will end but that has never been the case," Mangi says.

He is an unhappy man. He is one of the few residents of Bamba who have taps in their homes but they are dry.

"This water crisis is a shame to this country, we cannot be talking about development if our people drink this concoction of soil and other residue in the name of water," Mangi says.

The local MP, Francis Baya admits water problem in Ganze has reached crisis level.

Next Tuesday, a team of experts and other stakeholders will tour the hard hit areas.

"I have invited the managing director of Coast Water Services Water Board, Idd Mwasina and other stakeholders so that we can assess the situation in Bamba and Vitengeni," Baya says.

He says the most affected villages are Jila, Ndigiria.

Baya commends World Vision for its efforts but says the 40 litres per family it supplies is not enough as the Mijikenda live in huge families.

WATER PROJECTS

The MP says he will channel some of the CDF money to water projects.

As the water situation gets worse at Bamba, a blame game has erupted between Kilifi-Mariakani Water and Sewerage Company and the parent institution, Coast Water Services board.

Kilifi-Mariakani Water and Sewerage Company says it is unable to supply enough water to Bamba because it does not have enough water.

"We can only supply water that is given to us by Coast Water and Sewerage Company, at the moment, only one pump is working at Baricho. The rest have broken down," Mr Mwamuye Chigunda, the managing director of Kilifi-Mariakani Water And Sewerage Company says.

As they argue, tomorrow the women will wake up at dawn, walk for tens of kilometre to Kwa Topo to fetch the muddy concoction, if it will not have dried up.