This year, WILK has proudly partnered with Anderson Foundation to bring clean water to the Kimana Girls Secondary School. This foundation, which is the charitable arm of Zinpro Corporation, empowers girls through global initiatives. We’d like to tell you more about them, as well as the dire water situation in Kimana.
All About Anderson Foundation
Anderson Foundation, created by the Anderson family in 1999, honors the memories of Dean and Mary Anderson. Dean and Mary both believed in hard work, fair play, and giving back to those less fortunate. In 1971, Dean and Mary founded Zinpro Corporation, a company that supports animal health. Through the careful stewardship of Zinpro employees, a portion of Zinpro’s profits support the good works of Anderson Foundation.
Anderson Foundation empowers impoverished women and girls through education with the goal to eliminate gender-based inequality and gaps. They work with grassroots organizations that assist women and girls with the social and economic obstacles they face every day. It also has many partners, particularly in nearby Nairobi, Kenya, but also in Haiti, Guatemala, and other countries around the world.
Anderson Foundation has dedicated itself to uplifting women and girls, as “lifting up girls lifts the whole world.” Their mission fits perfectly with our own, and we’re happy to be working with them to help the students at Kimana.
Why Kimana Girls School Needs Help
The water situation at the Kimana Secondary School has been problematic, to say the least. More than 1,000 girls live and study there, but there isn’t enough clean water to accommodate them. Water levels are low during the dry season, so the school has to pay for expensive water deliveries. When it does rain, the water from Mt. Kilimanjaro is muddy and filled with sediment, making it almost impossible for the water pump to run without being overwhelmed with mud.
Kimana also has a lot of farms, and people who work on them clean their spraying tools in the river. The agrochemical runoff from the fields—including sprayed pesticides and herbicides—enters the river downstream. These chemicals in the water have led to increased illness as well as an uptick in cancer diagnoses in the region. There is clearly an urgent need for a clean, reliable source of water at Kimana Girls’.
The girls need water to eat, drink, take showers, wash their clothes, and wash the classrooms every day that school’s in session. Also, clean water ensures girls can continue attending school during their periods, something causing absences. This issue is pervasive across Kenya and is what led Anderson Foundation to initially contact WILK with hopes of partnering on a clean water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) project.
Anderson Foundation has committed to funding an entire borehole (roughly $80,000) at Kimana Girls’ Secondary School. Because of their generosity and willingness to partner, WILK has already begun the process of bringing a deep borehole well to the school. In just a few weeks, their new clean water supply will improve students’ health and well-being. Not only will grades go up, tuition costs will go down, making the Kimana Girls’ School more accessible for families with scarce resources.
What We’re Doing in Kimana
So far, we’ve visited the school for a needs assessment, then we performed the hydrogeological survey to locate where to drill. Once drilling happens, we’ll conduct test pumping then start construction on the well and its accompanying infrastructure.
We’ll have more updates as we continue to work on solving the water problem for the girls in Kimana. We’re so grateful for the support from Anderson Foundation for making this project possible. We look forward to helping the girls complete their education with this gift of clean water.
