Water is Life Kenya raises funds at Cape Shores
Water is Life Kenya held an information talk and fundraiser May 12 at Cape Shores in Lewes. Water is Life Kenya, a 501-c-3 not-for-profit organization, was started 10 years ago in 2007 by Joyce Tannian and members of the Tannian family in the United States, and Joseph Larasha in Kenya. The organization focuses its efforts on helping the legendary Maasai peoples living in the semi-arid regions surrounding majestic Mount Kilimanjaro in East Africa. In the Maasai language, “Enkare Enkishui” means “water is life,” and that became the name of the organization and the organization’s initial mission - to provide the essential ingredient of life, water. It is not unusual for women and girls in the region to spend the entire day carrying water to fill their family needs. Without clean water, families suffer from the debilitating impacts of drinking unclean water, children are incapable of learning even when schooling is available, and men despair because their sole asset, cattle, become weak, and even die from the lack of water. To date, Water is Life Kenya has completed 17 major water projects, including deep boreholes, shallow wells, rain water harvesting and pipeline connections that provide water to 50,000 people on a daily basis.
Water Is Life Kenya officials announced that two special visitors from Kenya, Joseph Larasha and Dorcas Mutero, are in the United States for the first time to give a TEDx ("ideas worth spreading") talk Sunday, May 20, and participate in the annual Water is Life Kenya Water Walk benefit around the Newark reservoir May 28. Larasha and Dorcas are witness to the important role played by Water Is Life Kenya in helping communities in East Africa over the past 10 years.
Joseph Larasha is the co-founder and the Kenyan field manager for water projects and livestock management groups for Water is Life Kenya. Larasha lives in the Amboseli region of southern Kenya. The region is known for its large elephant herds and views of immense Mount Kilimanjaro, across the border in Tanzania. He knows the villagers and the region’s politics intimately.
Dorcas Mutero lives in Imisigyio, Kenya, the first community to benefit from a Water Is Life Kenya deep water well project. Before the organization helped the families in the village by digging an all season well, the community relied on water from a dam during the rainy season, but during the dry seasons the community suffered, and Dorcas and the women and girls in the community had to walk long distances daily to carry water for their families and livestock. With more discretionary time available to her since she no longer has to spend hours collecting water, Dorcas is now a primary school teacher, and secretary of Water Is Life Kenya’s first women's Livestock Keepers Group.
