Today was an adventure – probably the most intense manual labor I’ve ever done (I’m sore already) - but regardless it was a great experience. We took the day off from academics and helped out with the Kimana Water Project. The project is working to build barriers and fences to protect springs (sources of stream water) and also to transport some of the spring water to storage tanks in dry regions. The group split up into teams of 6-7 and worked at three different locations. My job for the day was to continue construction on a furrow which was basically a 10in wide cement ditch. Once completed, the trough will be 7km (about 4 miles) and will be able to transport water from the spring to a storage tank to supply water to communities far from the source. The building materials for the furrow are funded in part by the School for Field Studies and other private donors but all of the work is done for free. The Kenyans that we worked with today work 6 days a week, at least 8 hours each day for free – in anticipation of being able to use the water source once it is completed.

We were on our own to work with the Kenyans all day – no SFS staff or translator which got interesting. There was one project leader present that spoke a good amount of English so he was our go-to-guy for the day. We started by building a frame for the cement walls (the cement base had been poured and set the previous day) by nailing together and stabilizing wooden boards. Then with four shovels and two wheel barrels, we transported piles of gravel and bags of cement mix to the frames. For water to mix the cement, we had to release the dammed areas of the already completed trough to transfer water from the spring down to where we were working. We removed about ten barrier areas, which were old cement bags filled with dirt and rocks, then Daniel (the English speaking worker) told Barbra (another SFS student) and myself to run down to the others and tell them the water was coming.

At this time – the water really was flowing, so Barbra and I had to literally run to stay ahead of it and tell the others. When we got there and announced that the water was coming, we got a lot of confused looks due to the language barrier – I now know that the Swahili translation is for water is “mangie.” Finally with a combination of our hand motions and the now visible water coming our way the message got through. This created a frenzy of having to now replace all of the barriers and Barbra and I along with all of the men and women working on the project began running back to replace the bags of dirt. It was a hilarious – the men were all yelling instructions at Barbra and I, throwing bags to be filled with dirt and picking up rocks to put in the trough. The women were working right along our sides, laughing at Barbra and I as we frantically were trying to help while at the same time trying to figure out exactly what we were supposed to be doing.

Everything worked out in the end, and we used the water source Barbra and I had so diligently worked to create, to mix the cement and fill the frames we had built this morning. It was really impressive to see the Kenyan women working along side the men. One did all of the shoveling and carried heavy water buckets with a baby on her back the whole time. It was a hard but enjoyable day and despite the language barrier it was a lot of fun to work side by side with the Kenyans, and rewarding to have been able to help with the project.