GFW | Newsletter | August 2005 | Providing Water and Opportunity

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

Groups of Women in Water and Agriculture Kochieng, Ahero, Kenya
by Marlene Dehlinger, Program Associate for Africa

Clean, safe water comes hard to women in Kenya's Nyanza Province. Many women rise at 4:30 in the morning and walk more than five km (3miles) to line up at rivers and streams where they wait their turn to draw water for cooking and cleaning.

The women of GWAKO lead the way
through newly planted fields.

Yet this water, which should be life-giving, is often a source of illness and even death. Streams that were once pristine are used for bathing, washing clothes and as the drinking point for livestock. Seasonal flooding carries sewage and septic waste into shallow, open wells. Because it is the role of women and girls to wash clothes, prepare food and water crops, they come into contact with contaminated water on a daily basis, which puts them at increased risk of disease.

Groups of Women in Water and Agriculture Kochieng (GWAKO), formed in 1996, has made access to water its central issue. GWAKO's holistic programs address the shortage of clean water and sanitation facilities. Heading a network of 24 grassroots women's groups located in villages on the outskirts of Kisumu, GWAKO has worked with communities to dig shallow hand wells to reduce the time women spend walking to and waiting at water points. GWAKO has also dug 13 deeper, more stable wells called tube wells, which provide water year round and do not become contaminated during floods. Women's groups have used their improved access to water to increase the output of their gardens, which can in turn be sold in markets. GWAKO has also taught them to create fertilizer for their gardens by turning household waste into compost.

GWAKO's holistic approach extends to education. The group determined that many young women do not attend school when they are menstruating due to the absence of sanitation facilities, and has built 12 latrines in six rural schools. It has also noted that many girls are pulled out of school to fetch water. To address the array of factors that cause girls to dropout—early marriage, household chores, teenage pregnancy—GWAKO has created clubs where girls learn about their rights, their changing bodies, and how HIV/AIDS is spread. The Global Fund is proud to have supported GWAKO with grants totaling $28,000.

Groups of Women in Water & Agriculture Kochieng
Norma Adhiambo, Coordinator
P.O. Box 569
Ahero 40101
Kenya
Phone: 254-57-42444
cell-721-895241 and 720-788-253
254/57 -202 0939
254/721-826 904
Email: nadhiambo@yahoo.com,
gwakoministries@yahoo.com