Kibwezi 4 Well Project 2024

Dear Friends,

I’m sure you won’t be surprised to read that we have been visiting Kenya again this spring to put final planning into place for our latest project. As of now, mid-April, we have raised £32,000, of the £45,000 required to start the first well. As usual I’m excited at our plans where I believe we will see something that will bring hope to the many people in the Kibwezi area of Kenya. The area is around 250 sq miles, around 20% of the size of Lancashire, or another example would be 40% the area of Greater London. There are around 20,000 people living there. We are proposing to drill 4 wells, this is described in more detail in the attached Kibwezi Well Project letter. The result will be, 10 litres of fresh clean water available daily for every man, women and child in the area. At a price that’s 50% to 75% cheaper than the water that is available now to buy. Making clean water an affordable option.

Through the income from the water, the 4 local Churches that will be working with us will be given resources that will empower their ministry. While at the same time our CMT Kenyan team will be receive the support, which until now they have relied on us for.

Both Jan and myself look forward to continue our work, but come the day we have to slow down or stop, the work will continue without us. These wells, along with the last 3 years projects will see CMT’s work continue and grow.

If after reading this letter and you feel you could support us in any, I would look forward to discussing more about this project and how we can work together. The following Project description letter goes into more detail of this project.

Details of the Kibwezi 4 Well Project 2024

Following our latest visit to Kenya in March, the decision has been made to go ahead to seek support for our Kibwezi project.

We have now commissioned Geological survey’s at each of the 4 sites and looking to secure the necessary permissions. This will guide us as to the best place to situate the wells. From these results a decision will be made on where we will begin to drill the first and subsequent wells. We anticipate that by the middle of May work can start, all we need is the funding in place for the first of the 4 wells.

By way of background, the wells are situated in the Eastern Provence of Kenya, it’s a flat landscape of some 250 sq. miles, surrounded by hills. The population is around 20,000 people. Our Kenyan team (CMT) have worked with  four churches in the Kibwezi area for many years, supporting them in their children’s ministry.

In these times of changing climate, when the irregular rains do arrive, the majority bypass the area and fall on the surrounding hills.

Following our lastest visit in March, the villagers confirmed that they had not received significant rainfall for the last three years. As a result of this, poverty has increased as crops fail, with many families experiencing breakups as the men and youths go to the cities and towns to earn money to support their families, never to return. With the lack of clean drinking water, to save money, they collect water from the two contaminated rivers so that diseases such as typhoid and cholera are endemic. There are a few places to buy water from tankers at very high prices and some shallow wells. Women and children regularly walk many miles and children miss lots of schooling, and are tired. At worse, there are stories of rape and abduction.

Therefore, our plan for 2024 is to drill four bore holes in the Kibwezi region

This project will be transformational in three ways-

1 — Better supply of clean drinking water at between 25% to 60% of the current cost, helping eliminate endemic disease and protecting children

2—Providing significant increased income for the local church. Providing the geology allows, each local church will have responsibility for the security and the management of the bore hole. They will receive 50% of the income created to empower them to invest in their local fellowship and it’s work.

3—Facilitating our Kenyan partner, CMT, to become self-sustaining and not reliant on western financial aid. SoH has successfully partnered with CMT for the last 10 years supporting schools, conservation farming and drilling of water bore holes through their extensive network in and around Nairobi. By using the remaining surplus income from these wells, and that from the current agricultural projects, this will enable them to become self-financing from the completion of this project.

The cost of each well is around £45,000, requiring the total amount of £180,000. Our aim is to do each well as funding becomes available. More information on the project and funding is available.

If you have questions or would like more details of our work, please ask and I will make them available.

Thank you for your consideration,

Duncan Taylor

17th April 2024