When we pulled into the school gate, the first thing to catch our attention was the energetic game of football on the dirt grounds played by children of all ages in their bright red school uniforms and, for some, bare feet.
The second thing that caught our eye was a small group of boys peddling on some kind of pump and watering the small green shoots of kale struggling in the hot sun.
This pump is one purchased by Kijani using funding from Collier Trust.
Kijani’s volunteer Barney Muckle, a retired agricultural engineer, discovered this little known device in his work and, after assessing the situation at the school, surmised that it would be perfect.
The new guttering on the roofs of the school classrooms provided more water than could be stored in the two storage tanks. Barney then had the idea of digging a small dam on the lower end of a ever-so-slight slope on the grounds and lining it with a heavy duty plastic.
 This ‘dam’ could now store gallons upon gallons of water. While the rest of the area dried up and all neighbouring crops died, the school had plenty of water.
The trick is to get the water from the dam to the crops. Hence the pump – the foot pump easily generated enough of a water flow to allow the children to water their cabbages and kale. This cabbage and kale was for some children their only source of vitamins and minerals during this drought. |
Hell’s Gate had an ongoing water problem. The park gets water from the local water body, but the service was unreliable and becoming more and more expensive. Also, in that area, there is no natural water beyond Lake Naivasha and the soil is too permeable to make good dams, even in times of sufficient rains. Without a steady supply of water to keep the animals within the park they wander (as the park is unfenced and backs onto a huge ranch) into cultivated areas where they are often killed or are ‘harvested’ for the illegal ‘bush meat’ trade. Thus having accessible water for the grazing animals in the park increases the number of animals safe from harm from humans and decreases human/animal conflicts.
After the first performance, Hell’s Gate’s Management Committee used the money they received from Kijani to purchase a new water bowser, which they named Carmen (after the opera), and a second-hand tractor to pull ‘Carmen’. Using money raised from the operas Don Giovanni and Porgy and Bess, the Park installed piping for a water system. A neighbouring flower farm has generously allowed the park to access water from their borehole. Today, Hell’s Gate has a reliable source of free water to fill up the watering holes frequented by grazing wildlife in the area.
However, with the gutters, the pipes and the tanks purchased and installed with funding from Kijani and Collier Trust, the school was able to store water that helped them survive the drought. During this time, Gatanyaga Primary School was still able to provide lunches for the children and water the garden plot where the children were growing cabbages and kale (important for adding nutrition to their lunches). With the rains that came in late April and May, the tanks are full again and the school intends to plant more spinach.
Most schools purchase large open pans or jikos (cookers that boil the lunch of beans and maize by using firewood or charcoal). These are laid on three stones for stability but the open fire makes a very smoky kitchen. The size of the cooker and the quantity of food cooked on a daily basis meant that the school had to use immense amounts of firewood – adding to the depletion of firewood in the area. Parents had to bring firewood to the school at great cost of money and/or energy.
