Though 2020 certainly didn’t work out in the manner the Kimaut Water Project team originally expected, with international travel restrictions having been put in place for all EWB-USA project teams. Sending an Engineers Without Borders team from Houston to Kenya was no longer an option.
As 2020 continued, the Houston team and the community of Kimaut began exploring options to move the project forward, eventually pivoting to alternative to proceed via remote implementation. As 2020 turned into 2021 the project team has been absolutely more than grateful for what the community of Kimaut and NGO partner Brighter Communities Worldwide have so far been able to help achieve in moving the project forward.
The wheels for the first phase of the Kimaut Water Project, to build a cistern to hold extra water from an existing spring box on the community, were put into motion in November and December 2020. At that time Brighter Communities Worldwide began procuring construction materials (e.g., concrete, rebar, piping, wood, etc.) and delivering them to the Kimaut community to prepare for the build.
With the arrival of 2021 the community’s shovels broke ground to start construction toward the long-term goal of providing sustainable clean drinking water for the community of 5,000. As January and February continued, the community dug a hole for the new cistern in a location indicated by the Houston team, adjacent to the existing spring box. Once the predetermined hole depth was hit, the Kimaut community members have since been cutting and bending rebar to shape, putting it in place inside the excavation to prepare for the upcoming cistern concrete pours.
This phase of the project has been a team effort. While Brighter Communities Worldwide has helped to supervise construction on the ground, with continued design input from the EWB team from abroad, it is the Kimaut community members who have truly stepped-up to take ownership of this project and associated work. Though the process of remote implementation presents its own unique set of challenges – not to mention additional concerns amidst an ongoing pandemic – the process has more fully given the community the empowerment to control their future and hope for a more positive future. The excitement of watching this realization within the community has been much more so than would be the act of sending a team of engineers to Kenya. It is the goal of EWB-USA projects to affect long-term behavior changes that contribute to the long-term improvement of community health and/or infrastructure.
Updates on the Kimaut Water Project will be provided through the project team’s Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn as ongoing and future work is continued. Additional phases for the project tentatively include digging of a new community well and drilling a deep-well borehole, in addition to several other approaches and supplemental education to help meet the community’s needs for clean water.
This project cannot be done without your help. If you would like to contribute to the ongoing project and future project phase, you may support the team through the team’s 501(c)(3) charitable organization fundraising page. If you want to more directly contribute to the project and its effort, the team is always looking for any new volunteers that wish to join. No engineering experience is necessary and anyone is welcome!
