Sumeta Women’s Group

This is a short note to express our gratitude in the Sumeta Women's Group for getting each one of us –- the 23 of us -– a water storage tank. This is not just helping us women in the community but serving our families & neighbours as well. Thank you for reaching out to us with love. Yours faithfully, Judy Kirui, Sumeta Women’s Group chairperson

Sumeta Women’s Group is in Mau-Narok, in Kenya's Nakuru county. It began in 2016 and now has 23 members. The group was started by women united by a variety of basic household needs, including easy access to safe water. The women would trudge for several kilometres through the mountainous terrain around them in search of water. They knew that rainwater would help them, but had little or no ability to harvest and store it during rainy seasons for use during dry seasons. That’s when Lifewater Canada donors provided the group with rainwater catchment and storage systems -- one system (including a 3,000 litre storage tank) for each of the 23 women and their households and extended families. Judy Kirui is one of the women who received a system. “We are living on the mountain and so we have rain, but we couldn’t harvest enough of it,” she says. Now, the time she and other members of the group are saving that used to be spent fetching water is being invested in helping the women to grow more crops to feed their families, Judy adds. “My children having a better life. When they come home from school now, instead of going to fetch water, they can go to play and have fun. As a person, so much weight has been lifted off my back -- literally. My heart is beaming with joy. Thank you so much.”