Bringing Water to Kasaani Village

Category: Community Conservation | Date: Jul 02 2009 | By: gvikenya

After months of planning, liaising and meetings, the outcome that we have all been working torwards for the ex-poachers and indeed their whole community of Kasaani village looks like it will finally become a reality! Following a meeting with Taveta District Council’s Community Development Fund yesterday, GVI Kenya are on course to help construct a water pipeline to bring drinking water directly to the village of Kasaani.

For over 10 years the community of Kasaani has struggled without water in their village; the absence of a water supply has meant that families in this community trek over 3km to obtain drinking water for their homes each day. Not only is this a tiring journey for all of those, including children, who have to make the uphill trip back to Kasaani carrying 20 litre containers of water, it also detracts from the time these families have available to devote to income generating activities and subsistence farming. The significance of this for the conservation of Tsavo West’s wildlife lies in the fact that many within the community had formerly relied upon the illegal poaching of wildlife to supply the bush meat trade in order to earn an income and feed their families. We have been working towards alternative livelihoods for them to subsitute the income they had derived from poaching and bringing a much needed water supply to the community not only rewards them for their commitment to this process but will actively support their ability to engage in these sustainable alternatives. This pipeline also has the potential to significantly improve the quality of life of all the people in Kasaani, as well as surrounding villages.

Although GVI has been working with the CDF over the past four months to find a feasible way to deliver a reliable supply of water to Kasaani, it was not until a few weeks ago that a viable proposal was established to deliver good quality drinking water to Kasaani from a pre-existing bore hole. This paves the way for a working partnership between GVI and Taveta District Council; construction of the pipeline is set to begin in August of this year.