On July 23rd, our new partners at Anderson Foundation visited Kenya to celebrate the opening ceremony at Kimana Girls’ Secondary School. Our videographer Juma was on the ground to capture the day. We hope you feel inspired watching this exclusive video of Anderson Foundation’s visit to Kenya!
Click to watch the story of how WILK and Anderson Foundation brought water to Kimana Girls’ School.
Kimana’s Water Journey
Before this project, the water situation at Kimana Girls’ was becoming dire. More than 1,000 girls live and study at Kimana, but, before the borehole, there wasn’t enough clean water to accommodate them. Water levels ran low during the dry season, so the school had to pay for expensive water deliveries. Local streams, which were sometimes used for bathing water, were full of industrial pollutants from nearby farming.
We’re happy to share that, as of July 1, 2025, this project is fully operational.
We drilled the borehole in February and finished construction in June. We built 90,000 liters of water storage, installed solar panels, and dug a pipeline to allow clean water to flow to the kitchen, dorms, classrooms, and showers. Kimana Girls’ new water supply will improve student health, increase test scores, and allow the school to grow more food on their farm, which will reduce school fees and make school more accessible for families with scarce resources.
Anderson, Zinpro Representatives Open the Borehole
On July 23, representatives from Anderson Foundation and their parent company, Zinpro, flew into Amboseli, Kenya to attend the borehole opening ceremony at Kimana Girls’ Secondary School. This borehole was fully funded by Anderson Foundation and has been providing clean, reliable water to students, staff, and the local community since July.
From Amboseli, the group visited some Livestock as a Business (LAB) groups near the Olmoti Community Borehole. They also received beautiful gifts, including custom partnership bags made by our Beaded Handicrafts workshop team. After the brief visit, the team made its way to Kimana for the opening ceremony.
The ceremony was monumental. It began with a parade to the borehole led by Kimana Girls’ very own color guard. Speeches were given by the school principal, senior class president, the local Member of Parliament, and Anderson Foundation’s Executive Director LaToya Burrell, who led this project. The festivities continued with a serenade from the choir, tree planting, and lunch.
Looking Towards the Future at Kimana
Head teacher Catherine Mwanik mentioned how important it’s been for the girls to have clean water available all around the school and how hopeful the green space, which includes a vegetable garden, has been to students and parents alike.
At the ceremony, Anderson Foundation then announced that it was donating an additional $50,000 gift to Kimana Girls’ School for the next high-priority project. But the generosity doesn’t stop there: in August, WILK Co-founder Joseph Larasha headed back to Kimana to make the official announcement — that Anderson Foundation had agreed to donate a new bus for the students. This will provide yet another way to ensure girls can get to school consitently, which will foster a better education for them all.
Our partnership with Anderson Foundation and its relationship with Kimana Girls’ School is already changing these students’ lives for the better. This is why we value our partners and the work they help us do. Many thanks to Anderson Foundation for bringing so much joy to the girls at Kimana!
Anderson Foundation President Debra Anderson and Executive Director LaToya Burrell speak to the students.
