Church World Service and Yang'at

"Seeing the girls empowered with education...girls fetching water near their homes and then going to school--that makes me happy," says Deborah Katina, Executive Director of Yang'at ("care" in the Pokot language), a Church World Service partner in western Kenya. "By empowering women and girls we're improving life for the whole community." Katina is a pioneer in the area of girls' rights to education--something the Church World Service Water for Life program is helping to make possible in West Pokot district, Kenya, and in a community across the border in Uganda--an arid region with a population of some 4,000 people.

It is the responsibility of women and girls in many parts of Africa to collect water for household use. This often means walking many miles to sites that are contaminated.

With help from Yang'at, families in two communities--one community in Kenya and the other in Uganda--are developing clean water resources, some for human consumption and others for livestock. A variety of water structures are used: shallow wells, cattle troughs, tanks, and sub-surface sand dams.

"I think God sent Church World Service to West Pokot because God knew His people were suffering there," says Katina. "When we go to the communities, we're not just talking about water."

With clean water close at hand, girls can attend school, and women can turn their attention to other profitable pursuits and improve their family's situation.

"Girls are learning their rights... to education and to not be 'circumcised.' The mothers have the heart to help their daughters; fathers often think just about the dowry," Katina continues. "Education is the key to everything."