Formed in 2008, Friends is a registered 501 (c) (3) non-profit in the USA, Its main objective is to raise funds to drill water wells in Kenya. Founder Evalee I Treen from Santa Barbara, California, USA, has spent many months in Kenya identifying locations that need water. The lack of local water has women and girls walking four miles to twenty-five kilometers every day. As a result, girls are not educated due to the responsibility of having to help their mother fetch water for the family.
In 2006, FOWKI visited a Maasai village in Amboseli where the average walk for water is four miles each way. A need for a well was apparent so we began searching for a funding source and finally in 2010 Global Water and Ms Treen visited the village. Global Water received funding from Oasis Bottling Company in Dubai for wells in Africa and the Maasai village was chosen to have a borehole drilled. In February 2011, the well was drilled to PRIMARY WATER depth and it has forever changed the lives of this village and others around it. Now there are about 2000 people coming to this well each week for water.
In late 2005, Ms Treen visited another village in Eastern Kenya, home to the Kamba tribe. The Kamba are farmers that relied on the rains for water but ten years of drought depleted the water reserves. We met with the locals and told them we would search for funding; finally, in 2009 funding came from Santa Barbara North Rotary Club. In 2011 March the well was drilled to PRIMARY WATER depth and was sighted by Pal Pauer Geologist, from California who searches for Primary Water that comes up between the fissures in the earth, it is not ground water. This well after four months is still free flowing at a rate of 55 gallons a minute. The water is stored in tanks and piped downhill to different kiosks and households so the women don’t have to walk so far.
We are at this time raising funds for the second phase of the well in Ngu Nyumu which is home to the Kamba people, for a water storage tank on top of a hill with pipelines up to the top, and purchase of a pump to move the water from the well to the tank at the top of the hill. This will provide clean drinking water to many more homesteads on that side of the hill, plus a school that has close to 400 students that now has to truck water in for daily use.
Friends OF WONI KENYA INTERNATIONAL, INC also do small school projects, school uniforms for the Maasai Preschool children, hand washing tanks for the preschool in Ngu Nyumu and the Maasai, Educational material for the teachers in both schools, turn out soccer uniforms for rural schools, soccer balls, all of these are small things, but most welcomed by the schools.
There is a drastic need for clean drinking water in Kenya and most of Africa. Water is there, but in most cases deep drilling is the only way to access it. The Maasai well was 50 meters, 150 feet, and NGU Nyumu well was 350 feet in depth. Each of these wells if they had pumps and generators would be able to furnish an average of 1000 gallons a minute, but due to the cost of the generators and pumps, the Maasai at this time have a hand pump, and fortunately the Ngu Nyumu village well is free flowing.
We have guidelines that villages have to follow to qualify for a well project; we bring in the Geologist that searches for the best place to drill a well. Individuals own most of the areas in Central Kenya. Once the site is located, the community comes together and asks the landowner to donate the well site portion to a legally formed Community Based Organization. The owner of the land “Deeds” the well site portion of land to the CBO, that way the land and the well cannot be claimed to be owned by one person and their family heirs have to abide by the "Deed", and the money spent will be for the community as a whole.
The required Permits to drill can be a problem especially in areas where the Maasai live, as they do not own the land. It is possible to get the permits, but it is time consuming and costly to fast track the process, this is the same elsewhere in Kenya. We have people on the ground in Kenya that unite the people and see that they complete the proper documents to obtain the permits. Many things come into play before a well is drilled. Nothing moves fast in Kenya or Tanzania.