Maasai Clean Water Well in Tinga, Kenya

We are raising funds to drill a solar-powered well in Tinga, Kenya for the Maasai people.

We need $20,000 to drill a well deep enough to access reliable water (600ft) and to install a solar pump so that it can function in the remote desert area. The well drilling costs $12,000 and the solar pump costs $8,000. The well’s hydrogeologic report estimates that the well will produce approximately 20 gallons of water per minute, providing water for up to 4,000 people!

Water is extremely scarce in Tinga (sometimes referred to as Oltinga) Kenya. The only time that rivers and streams are present and available for individuals to collect water is for a few weeks in the rainy season between March and May. The nearest lake, Lake Magadi, is a salt water lake. Even once individuals access this water, is contains waterborne illnesses that can cause sickness and death. Instead of attending school, children will often have to collect this water for their families, this water that can make them sick that same day.

Currently in order to access water, individuals are trucked up to 30 miles away to get water once or twice a week in exchange for several dollars. The alternative is to pay $700 for a family to have water for three months. But this cost is the equivalent of one individual’s annual income, a situation out of the question for most families.

As a result of the current water situation, the Maasai people have learned to live on half a gallon of water per day to extend their three month supply to last a year.

To put that into perspective, the average American uses 80-100 gallons of water per day.

Together let’s share clean water with thousands of people in the Maasai community!

The Maasai People

The Maasai practice seasonal migration but have a home base where they return to cultivate crops. They also make a living by herding goats and cattle. Because of their semi-nomadic and pastoral lifestyle, the Maasai people need a lot of land. They have lived in the northern, central, and southern Kenya and northern Tanzania area for thousands of years. However, the Maasai have been forcibly displaced from their ancestral lands in Serengeti in Tanzania and Maasai Mara in Kenya by tourism and safaris. Because of the high cost of land in Kenya, individuals would either have to save their entire salary for 10 years to purchase one acre of land, or they would need to illegally displace another tribe from their ancestral property. This situation has forced the people to live on this arid, less desirable ancestral land.

In addition to the local government’s push for tourism, climate change has also drastically challenged the Maasai people’s access to resources and water. In the past there were several permanent rivers in the area, including 18 rivers in the Namuncha and Ewuaso Kedong areas. Now there is only one permanent river that ends in the Namuncha area.

Help us bring clean, safe drinking water to the Maasai community but donating today. You donation changes and saves thousands of lives.

Photo courtesy of Michael Starkie.