Water!

Feb 20, 2019

-Tom Albinson

Two water stories lead this first post from this visit to Kakuma.

1. Water!

We’ve been working on a massive project for several years that aims to provide drinkable water to a camp of over 2000 Internally Displaced People (IDP). We reached a major milestone last week. We struck water!

The drill first found some water at around 40 meters. It looked promising, but our NGO partner in Kenya encouraged them to keep drilling. At 80 meters they found nothing more and recommended to stop drilling. Our partner encouraged them to keep drilling.

Then it happened. At 110 meters they hit a water source that appears to be very promising.

The next step is to test the water quality. If it checks out as expected, this is the well for which we’ve been praying together all these years!

2. Water!

There are currently 15 wells serving the refugees and locals. Only 2 are still working. And one of them is no longer producing much. One well is trying to serve 200,000 refugees plus the local people. If it fails, it will be a humanitarian disaster on top of a humanitarian disaster.

We’re only getting water in the NGO compound for 2 hours at night. Every measure is being taken to conserve water.

This is a semi desert and people won’t last long if water fails. The rains aren’t expected for another 4-6 weeks. We can feel the tension in the air.

Would you pray with us that God will provide for the women, children and men here?

How strange it is to strike water at a time of an impending water emergency.