|
| |
Kitui
is a district in the Eastern province of Kenya. The Diocese of Kitui also
includes Mwingi district. These are arid (very dry)
areas in which difficulty in accessing adequate clean water dominates
the people's lives.
|
Kitui
Facts
|
| In this section we try to give you an overview of the situation in
Kenya, and specifically in the districts of Kitui and Mwingi which make up the
Diocese of Kitui. Everyone is aware of the problems caused by
drought in Eastern Africa, and particularly in the Horn of
Africa. Obviously the overall situation is very complex and we do not
want to over simplify. However we would like to get across the message that
droughts and associated famines are not simply a consequence of
post-industrial revolution Global Warming. In East Africa, droughts and famines have been
recorded at regular intervals since records began |
at the beginning of the
colonial period in the latter half of the 19th century. Prior to colonisation,
the various tribes in what is now Kenya had evolved a way of life which
minimised the effects of droughts. There is a strong argument to the effect that
the destruction of the traditional way of life following colonisation, and the
concentration of the native peoples into reservations in the Machakos and
Eastern Kitui areas, initiated a cycle of poverty and excessive vulnerability to
droughts which continues to this day. |
|
|
| Modern day Kenya is very much the product of colonial
times. The first Europeans reached the interior in the middle of the nineteenth
century. This brief review of the history of Kenya, and particularly of the
Kitui, Mwingi and Machacos districts since colonisation will help you understand
the forces at play today. |
You will probably agree after reading this review that
we "Europeans" owe much to Kenya today to repay what we have taken in the past. Read
Kitui History Review |
Water Issues
|
|
Water is the essence of life. In the Western world, we use about 250 litres per
person per day for domestic usage alone. Industrial usage can increase this
figure by a factor of 10. Americans drank 26 billion liters of bottled water in
2004, or roughly one eight-ounce glass per person every day. Italians drank the
most bottled water per person, at nearly 184 liters in 2004--more than two
glasses per day. It is difficult to estimate the amount of water needed to maintain acceptable
or minimum living standards.
Moreover, different sources use different figures
for total water consumption. |
Minimum levels of domestic water consumption should be about 5
litres/person/day although in Kenya, in times of drought or other crises it is
not uncommon for the per capita water consumption to fall well below this. Domestic
water demand includes all water used in and around the home for the following
essential purposes:
- Drinking
- Food preparation and cooking
- Personal hygiene
- Washing clothes and cleaning
- Washing pots, pans and other utensils
|
| Where a sewerage system exists, a range of 20 to 40 liters of freshwater per
person per day is generally considered to be a necessary minimum to meet needs
for drinking and sanitation alone. If water for bathing and cooking is included
as well, this figure varies between 27 and 200 liters per capita per day. |
In Kitui's outlying areas, where no sewerage system exists, a typical target
for a new water supply would be to provide 7.5 to 10 litres per person per day. This
is only 3 to 4% of the daily water consumption of a Western household. |
| The Kitui Diocese's target is to reduce the maximum distance a family must
travel to fetch water to below 5km. For a typical family of 8 people,
having to fetch water from a distant water source, they must carry 80 to 90 kgs
weight from the water source each day. |
Read about the Water Issues facing the district
of Kitui.
|
|
Educating Children |
| Much of what one observes in Kitui today is
very reminiscent of Ireland in the 1940s and 1950s- and particularly the
emphasis on the education of children. Many would ascribe Ireland's recent
economic success to the concentration on providing good primary, |
secondary and
third level education, and on the sacrifices made by parents in the past 50
years towards this end. Hopefully the sacrifices now being made by the Kenyan
parents for the same purposes will pay dividends in the future. Read
about education in Kenya |
HIV/AIDS
|
| The
HIV/AIDs pandemic is devastating the people
of Kenya. Even in the remote, rural areas such as Kitui and Mwingi communities
are losing their most energetic and capable young people and community projects
are being deprived of committee members and community leaders by this pandemic. |
Read
about the HIV/AIDS Programme
|
|
