Report Dated - 10/25/2011
The following pictures were taken by EMI volunteer David Hill while working with CRWRC in the Turkana province of Northwest Kenya. The drought in the region is causing severe water and food shortages that are endangering the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.


Girls from a pastoralist tribe in Turkana South dig for water in a dry river bed where EMI volunteer David Hill worked with local officials to determine a permanent solution to the community's water problem.

The drought has driven the pastoralists south in search of water and fodder for their herds. This has stressed the water resources available in the southern areas and sparked continuing conflict with the Pokots. The local host community originally welcomed the IDPs following the election violence in 2008. Now, nearly 4 years later, the IDPs have nowhere to go and tensions are rising.

The communities have been sharing a borehole with a hand-operated pump. However, the hand-pump cannot keep up with the demand of both communities, forcing the people to walk several kilometers away to get more water, or worse yet, causing some to dig their own 'water holes'. These holes are easily contaminated, and those who walk for their water commonly rely on children, who are thus kept from going to school so they can perform their water fetching duties. David and the CRWRC team worked to determine a permanent solution to the crisis, while in the meantime 20 Litre jerry cans and PUR filters were distributed so families who were digging for their water could purify the water before consuming it.

The team started by performing a draw-down pump test on the existing borehole at an IDP Camp in the Turkana province of Kenya. They tested the yield of the borehole and found that it could serve many more people if a higher capacity pump were installed. Consequently, they worked with the local church and water committee to replace the hand-pump with a solar-powered electric pump that will enable the borehole to serve both communities of people – nearly 3000 families in all. Learning this relatively simple solution to the problem, the local officials were thrilled to have a path forward for safe and reliable water for their community. The new pump is expected to arrive in a couple weeks.

     
Left: A young boy lines up to catch some of the water during the pump test. Initial concerns that the water would be wasted during the pump test were quickly alleviated as women and children from all around came to fill every container they could find.
Right: Overjoyed with the abundance of water during the pump test, one girl's daily burden becomes a game for a day.

In working to find a more permanent solution, the CRWRC performed a draw-down pump test on an existing borehole at an IDP Camp in the Turkana province of Kenya. The CRWRC team tested the yield of the borehole and found that it could serve many more people if a higher capacity pump were installed. Consequently, CRWRC is working with the local church and water committee to replace the hand-pump with a solar-powered electric pump that will enable the borehole to serve both communities of people – nearly 3000 families in all. The new pump is expected in a few weeks.

Please keep checking back here for additional updates and stories from these mobilizations, as well as for potential additional volunteer needs in the coming weeks and months.


Report Dated - 10/16/2011
From October 4-16, 2011 Daniel Kane conducted an assessment trip in partnership with Food for the Hungry Kenya (FH-K) to evaluate the feasibility of rooftop rainwater harvesting (RRWH) in the Central Marsabit District of Northern Kenya as a means for addressing the need for adequate access to a sustainable supply of clean water among the arid region's most marginalized communities.


Over the course of the trip Dan met with various organizational stakeholders, including government officials and NGO representatives, to explore the suitability of and determine the support for implementing a comprehensive RRWH program in Central Marsabit. While visiting Marsabit town and the surrounding villages, four focus group discussions were conducted with the assistance of contracted enumerators to better understand household domestic water needs, identify current water sources, and ascertain the acceptability and commitment level for constructing and maintaining household roof catchments. Finally, an extensive survey of more than 100 residential and public buildings of thirteen communities within Central Marsabit representing almost 4,000 households was performed to gather essential field data for determining the sizing requirements of proposed RRWH systems.


Report Dated - 10/6/2011
We currently have four design professionals on the ground working in four different parts of Kenya and Mozambique helping some of our Disaster Response partners respond to the continuing drought and famine crisis in the region. These engineers are helping rehabilitate water wells, restore other water sources, and develop rainwater harvesting plans in conjunction with Christian Reformed World Relief Committee and Food for the Hungry. We are monitoring their progress closely from both our USA office in Colorado Springs and our East Africa office in Kampala, Uganda. Please continue to lift these individuals up in prayer as they perform a number of critical, technical duties to help the suffering people in East Africa amidst sometimes difficult and tense situations.

Please keep checking back here for additional updates and stories from these mobilizations, as well as for potential additional volunteer needs in the coming weeks and months.


Report Dated - 8/30/2011
Right now in the Horn of Africa, the most severe drought in 60 years is threatening the lives of more than 10 million people according to the UN. Two consecutive dry rainy seasons has resulted in this crisis, and it's not likely to improve until at least 2012. The children in the region are especially in danger as they are most vulnerable to starvation and disease. A Famine has been declared in southern Somalia, and aid workers on the ground fear it will spread throughout the region if nothing is done to prevent it. Millions of people in Kenya, Somalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Uganda are in critical need of food and water.

EMI is partnering with other relief ministries to respond to the drought and food crisis, working to provide critical water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) support to on the ground efforts in the region. We have already mobilized one volunteer WASH engineer to the region through one of our partnering ministries, CRWRC (Christian Reformed World Relief Committee), and are actively recruiting other specialists in this field to mobilize in the coming weeks.

Rainfall at 10% of normal the past two rainy seasons has created drought conditions throughout the Horn of Africa, preventing crops from growing and killing livestock. Malnutrition and disease are on the rise as families travel long distances in search of food. Record high food prices, internal conflicts, and insecurity in the region further exacerbate the situation.

Please pray for the millions of people suffering right now in this region of Africa. If you are a qualified WASH engineer and are potentially interested in helping out with this need, please email disasters@emiusa.org for more information.

Help EMI's Effort

• If you are interested in helping, please consider making a donation to cover the costs of these efforts [click here].
• If you'd like to sign up for EMI's Disaster Response team [click here].
  (Note: Due to the inherently complex and stressful nature of crisis situations, candidates must have first traveled with EMI on a non-disaster reponse before being considered for the team)