Water Is Life - Kenya

10/10/2026

We're looking forward to being in Kent Island on Tuesday!

Come as our guest & hear Joyce Tannian’s story. She is the co-founder & executive director of Water Is Life - Kenya. Tuesday, Oct. 13th.

10/06/2026

WIDOWS HAVE HOPE WITH THEIR NEW BUSINESSES 🏪

Women from Group 5 of our Hope for Widows (HFW) Program met to discuss how their new businesses are progressing. This includes women from Meshenani, Risa, Lenkisem, and Inkiitok.

The women are currently in the “low season,” which means income is slower with the dry conditions. They also recently had to pay school fees, so there are still some adjustments happening. When the rainy season comes around in a few weeks, we expect their businesses to bounce back.

Despite this, not only are these women still learning to save money, but their goats are doing well! Goats, like cows and other livestock, are one of the ways Maasai “bank” money, with babies one way to increase the potential for cash. Having several methods to generate income is just one reason why HFW participants have been so successful.

Our Field Assistants check on the women every week, and our team gets together with them monthly. We’ll check in on them again soon to see how much their businesses and savings boxes have grown!

10/02/2026

We’ve been visiting groups that have already gone through training in our Livestock as a Business (LAB) Program. Eligible LAB groups can receive microloans up to four times, but they are typically only trained in the first year. To help people brush up on their skills, we’re reminding these groups of tips that will increase profits when buying and selling livestock.

Usually, we have one large meeting for this review session. However, the forecast of impending rains have made travel for this kind of event difficult. Instead, we’re going to each area to review some of our most important lessons.

What has been working is that groups are keeping good records and maintaining vaccination schedules so livestock remains healthy. But when we asked how they judge a good cow to purchase, we found that the criteria used could be better.

Community members reported “cow color and the length of its tail” as the most important factors to determine healthy livestock. But it’s really the cow’s frame, which affects bone structure and lung capacity, that marks a cow will fatten well over time.

We went over some of these lessons with our earlier groups to reinforce how they should shop for cows later in the year. With charts and pictures!

We also are challenging groups to store grass so that they’re prepared for upcoming droughts that in this arid region are inevitable. Some groups have stored between 500-800 bales of hay for hard times. In this way, their livestock will be protected when the grass isn’t growing.

This is how Maasai can both maintain their traditional culture and effective livestock businesses. We’ll keep teaching these lessons as we travel through Kajiado County!

09/28/2026

3 DAYS LEFT TO HAVE YOUR MONTHLY GIFT MATCHED FOR 1 YEAR

This offer ends Wednesday after being live all summer.

And oh, what a summer it’s been!

From mid-June through mid-September, I was on the ground in Kenya putting your donations to work.

Our impact in Kenya is growing. When we share events online, dozens of community members like, share, and comment. Inevitably, some send messages requesting our support.

People want the programs that YOU keep supporting!

We are so grateful for all the good things coming our way. And, as you could expect, as the work grows in Kenya, so do our expenses.

This transformative work only happens if we go out into the field and meet people. That requires us to hire staff and drivers, buy fuel, maintain our vehicle, book rooms, feed ourselves, pay for cellphone data packages, transport field assistants, and hire expert trainers. The list goes on.

We need steady cash flow to keep the work going! This is why we’re asking you to consider becoming a monthly donor to WILK.

We welcomed a team of big donors, visitors from the Diocese of Wilmington, and our WILK-TEC engineers; opened a well in Orarait; drilled another well in Olgulului; gave out goats and grants to 74 widows; welcomed new livestock-keeping groups into our Livestock as Business program; met, monitored, and mentored our youth entrepreneurs; and laid the groundwork for future projects.

A generous WILK donor posed this challenge: “Have people become monthly donors by the end of September, and I’ll match their monthly contributions for 1 calendar year.”

We’re happy to say that 18 people have already become new monthly donors. Over the next 12 months, that will equal over $10,000 in recurring cash flow – an amount that will be MATCHED to equal $20,000 total!

If you want to make the biggest impact possible, this is your time to become a monthly donor to WILK. Just click the donation link in the comments!

Thank you for your consistent, loving support!

09/18/2026

RAINWATER HARVESTING PROJECT COMPLETE AT MOYO PRIMARY 💦

Our very own WILK-TEC (Technical Engineering Committee) finished their project at Moyo Primary School before heading back to the U.S. last week.

WILK-TEC has a trademark project they’ve perfected over nearly a decade of volunteering with WILK: a custom rainwater harvesting system for school buildings. For the project at Moyo Primary, the engineers met every month for the past year to design the project. Then, this month, the travel team met up with our WILK Kenya Team to install it.

The team installed custom gutters on the school building and delivered two 10,000 liter water tanks. To ensure clean water enters the tanks, they constructed a “first flush” system that washes away the dirty water. They outfitted water taps for collection and trained the community on how to care for their new water system.

On Wednesday, Moyo Primary received their first 20,000 liter water delivery since WILK-TEC’s visit. This should last them a few weeks until the rains come, when they can finally take full advantage of their new system.

09/17/2026

WE HAVE 14 ACTIVE LAB GROUPS 🐂

We’re in the second week of training for our new cohort of Livestock as a Business (LAB) groups!

We are welcoming 4 new groups into the fold. They join the 10 groups already in the program, totaling 14 active groups (about 15-20 people per group). All 14 will receive livestock loans later this fall.

The second training session (pictured in these photos) involves teaching the 6 P’s of Marketing: Product, Price, Place, Promotion, People, and Profit.

In general, Maasai livestock keepers understand the basics of good livestock keeping. But when it comes to making improvements, many don’t know where to start. Over the years, we’ve learned that helping farmers think about what works best in their geographic location makes a big difference when it comes to turning a profit.

These sessions are important and take a few hours. We keep the groups energized by doing fun exercises to get the juices flowing!

09/11/2026

FIXING WHAT'S BROKEN IN IMURTOT 🔧

Imurtot Health Center—the regional hospital for 30,000 local residents—had a borehole drilled more than two years ago. However, government contractors never installed water storage or piping. Since there was no sign that the job would be completed, we installed water storage tanks to hold 40,000 liters of water.

Recently, we visited the health center to see how things were going. We discovered that while the outside water was accessible, the plumbing was not bringing water inside the building. So we fixed it! Now you can see that workers can get water from the tap, which will help keep the center hygienic by reducing occurrences of infections.

We have more projects like this in the works because we believe that everyone in Kenya, not just those who live in its major cities, should have access to clean water. Your support makes this work possible!

09/03/2026

WILK-TEC BRINGS ENGINEERING SKILLS TO MOYO PRIMARY SCHOOL 🔨

WILK-TEC is back in Kenya working on a new rainwater harvesting system at Moyo Primary School, which is near Amboseli.

It was all hands on deck as Joyce, Larasha, Nelson, Cate, and Leonard also helped out. Over three days, they placed several 10,000 liter tanks on concrete slabs, installed gutters on the roof, and added their specialized First Flush System, which has been successfully collecting and storing water at other schools in Kenya.

The school had been using clear tanks to store water. Unfortunately, because the tanks were clear the water was inundated with algae. The tank was also surrounded by a fence which prevented repairs and further construction.

Because of WILK-TEC’s innovative solution, Moyo Primary can now collect and store clean water during the rainy season and safely deliver and store water when it’s dry. A big thanks to WILK-TEC for sharing their engineering talents!

08/27/2026

OLOLEPO WILL HAVE CLEAN WATER!!! Test pumping took place August 26-27. The water ran for 24 hours and has great flow, good taste, and no salt! Community members got to collect and use the water. Their lives are changing before our eyes! SONG CREDITS: ENKAI AKE NATAASA by RODGERS TIYANA

08/26/2026

TEST PUMPING IN OLOLEPO 🌊

We began test pumping at the Ololepo borehole today! After some mechanical issues with the rig, which put us a day behind schedule, we drew up water to check for capacity and quality. Water was reached at 33 meters, and after about 8-10 hours of pumping, went down to just 45 meters. The well itself is 120 meters, so this seems consistent with our other deep borehole well projects.

It also passed the taste test! It was not salty, so we're confident that the tests will confirm its potability. It was incredible to see people bringing their children, and their animals, to collect and drink the fresh, clean water.

Four other attempts were made to drill a borehole for the Oglulului community, but all of them were dry. We're proud that our attempt to bring a deep borehole well to Ololepo has been a success, but we're especially happy to see how many lives will be changed because of this gift.

The generosity of several partners as well as our faithful donors made this happen! Thank you for being a part of this transformation! 🙏