What do you think of when you think of water?
Drinking, cooking, fun, blessing, life, cleansing, healing, plants, thriving, thirst-quenching, snow, paddling, lakes, seas, clouds, rain, rivers, flowing, quiet, swooshing, fizzing, strength, green, erosion.... seven kilometers.
"Seven kilometers" - this association is new. Seven kilometers. This is the distance that the Maasai women must walk to collect water from the river. In one direction. Fourteen kilometers there and back. Imagine that! Imagine waking in the night, throat parched, and there is no water to be had.
With only € 1,500, we were able to reduce their trip to a few hundred metres by repairing the present watering hole. One meter of water piping cost only € 5, including plumbing. We only needed 300 meters to renew the broken piping, and to reconnect to the main aqueduct.
What on earth happened? During the drought, intelligent hyenas discovered that they could quench their thirst if they broke open the piping. Unfortunately, they didn't confine their operations to only one place. No, they turned the piping into a sieve, causing the water flow to stop. We bought the strongest piping that Arusha had to offer. The Maasai community dug it deep into the ground for better protection. This work was done mainly by warriors between 20 and 35 years old. They are now extremely happy that soon there will be water flowing again nearby. Asante sana! Many thanks!
