November 30, 2014
Otieno family (name changed to protect privacy), of a very low income level, lives in a small town in western Kenya. They have 5 highly disabled children and two normal children. Local community has assisted them with construction of a modest family house, and has assisted with schooling costs of one of the healthy children, but due to the overall low income levels could not help more. Given the condition of their 5 children, by now already young adults, they have been visited and photographed by visitors and journalists over several years. They were promised assistance, which never came, making them disappointed and suspicious vs. outsiders. Watu Kwa Watu has decided to change this situation, and was lucky to find a very positive response from a group of the professors and collaborators of the University of Warsaw in Poland, mobilized by Professor Pawel Swianiewicz, collaborator and contributor to Watu Kwa Watu projects for several years.
This group of sponsors is now supporting the costs of school of the second healthy child, has fully funded domestic water connection for the family (saving the mother many daily walks with two heavy buckets of water) and is presently sponsoring construction of the latrine. Watu Kwa Watu was in fact able to secure a private loan from one of the Trustees to fund the construction of the latrine, and to improve the hygienic conditions of the family with immediate effect. Polish sponsors will be repaying this loan over the next two years.
Any possible additional sponsor, who could contribute to speed up the repayment of the loan and free the funds for new priority assistance, is very much invited to communicate directly with Watu Kwa Watu at <watukwawatu@gmail.com>.
Photos below show, in three rows from left to right: (1) The family including some of the children in the yard by the house; (2) In front of the new water tank from left: the mother, one of the builders, Ines of Watu Kwa Watu, the father, another builder, local family friend who has introduced Watu Kwa Watu to the family; (3) New ater gank with house behind; (4) New latrine under construction next to the old latrine (fully filled-in and damaged) (5) New latrine.