Arombe – San Francisco Professional
Community Overview
Arombe is a small community located inland of Lake Victoria and north of the Tanzanian boarder in Western Kenya. The local people live in rural homesteads and grow tobacco and mine surface gold for sale to large companies, (the average income in Arombe is $10 per month per household). Their current sources of water are several seasonal springs and a heavi-ly contaminated river. When the springs run dry during periods with little or no rain-fall, the river is the only source of water for the community as well as everyone up and down stream. Contaminated water leads to outbreaks of typhoid and dy-sentery that affect nearly half the popu-lation every year leading to fatalities.
The village has a very motivated self help group that has been working over the past few years to improve quality of life in the Arombe area. The group has already raised funds to build and staff a medical clinic that provides treatment and testing for HIV as well as medications and treat-ments for several less severe diseases that occur within the local population. The group’s current goal is to reduce the oc-currences of disease and infection by providing the community a clean, reliable source of drinking water. The self help group took several steps forward:
- forming a water board,
- facilitating a hydro-geologic study,
- obtaining a well drilling permit,
- pursuing a Kenyan government grant and
- applying to EWB USA for engineering design assistance.
Past Activities
Three members of EWB-San Francisco Pro-fessional Chapter traveled to rural Arombe, Kenya to assess the community’s access to water, meet the self help group, and learn and participate in some of the community’s customs. During the visit the engineers were able to discuss water myths for awareness creation, view several nearby water systems, build strong networks within the region, and meet with members of EWB Kenya, the University of Maseno and USAID.
Assessment of the community indicated both minimal access to clean water and poor knowledge of sanitation. In addition, members of EWB noted a lack of capital for the self help group to implement a clean water system, and a lack of education to expand the Arombe economy.
2011 and Beyond: Ways Forward
EWB-SFP plans to work with the Arombe, Kenya community over the next 5-years and to raise the necessary funds to help realize both clean water and socio-economic advancement: (1) investigate boreholes and low cost pumping, (2) compile geological information (3) con-sider hydro-geological testing methods, (4) investigate well installation and oversee future drilling, and (5) educate and raise awareness within the local community of micro economic growth.
This summer the team plans to travel to the village for additional hydrologic research and well design. Implementation will follow shortly with well drilling before the close of the year and distribution design over the following months.
