Follow Six-Year-Old Celestine on Her Walk for Water
In the remote community of Kambu, Kenya, a little girl named Celestine walks two miles every day with a five-liter jug on her back. While some children can choose to have fun after their school day is over, Celestine cannot.
She walks daily to collect water for her family, spending hours gathering a resource we often take for granted.
Celestine and her Grandma Anne walk two miles round-trip each day to collect water for their family.
Celestine is six years old and lives with her Grandma Anne. Because of the immense poverty in Kambu, Celestine’s mother is seeking work in another town with the hopes of sending money back to her family.
Like most little girls, Celestine desires to spend her time in school and with her friends. “My favorite thing in school is reading,” Celestine said. “After school, I like playing with my friends. My favorite thing to play is hide and seek, and the best hiding spot is at the baobab tree.”
Because Celestine spends so much time walking for water, she often has little time to play with her friends and simply enjoy her childhood.
Celestine walks one and a half miles home from school. But instead of getting to play with her friends after school, she has to trek another mile, this time with her grandmother by her side. “We get water from the Kambu River during the rainy season,” explained Celestine’s Grandma Anne. “It is 20 minutes to walk each way.”
With large jerrycans on their backs, Celestine and Grandma Anne make the long trek to the Kambu River to collect water for drinking, washing, and bathing.
Women like Anne and girls like Celestine collectively spend 200 million hours per day walking for water. During the dry season in Kambu, gathering water takes longer than usual. Celestine and Anne must dig in the dry riverbed because there is so little water. “When you go to the riverbed, you must scoop in the sand and wait for the water to come up,” said Grandma Anne. “In total, it can take one to two hours.”
The water in the Kambu River is dirty and unsafe, and animals often tread through it. It often makes Celestine sick, causing her to miss school.
A five-liter jug of water is heavy for a little girl. On the return journey, Celestine's jerrycan weighs approximately 11 pounds, filled to the brim so she doesn’t have to repeat her walk. “I carry it on my back. I get very tired,” Celestine said.
“Celestine gets very tired when she goes to collect water. She can’t do anything else when she gets home because she’s so tired,” Anne echoed. Not only does Celestine walk a long distance for her water, but she also gets sick from consuming it. These illnesses prevent her from attending school regularly and playing with her friends.
“The kids get worms from the contaminated water. It is a great problem,” Grandma Anne said. “The last time Celestine was sick was…two months ago. She had stomach problems, and now you can see scabs on her scalp from the parasites.”
Children around the world miss 443 million school days each year due to water-related illnesses. Access to safe water makes it possible for children like Celestine to regularly attend school.
Celestine is only one of many children in Kambu who contract deadly illnesses from consuming Kambu River water. Children worldwide miss 443 million school days every year due to water-related illnesses.
In the summer of 2024, Water Mission completed a safe water project in the community of Kambu. This project is the largest in Kenya thus far, serving 9,000 people, including a hospital and seven schools, one of which is Celestine’s.
The project is also the first to use an elevated steel tank and underground collection tank. With an erosion chlorinator to treat the water, the Kambu project will service the community with safe water so that girls like Celestine no longer have to walk for water or become sick from it.
Celestine and Grandma Anne rejoice because they now have access to safe water in their community. They no longer have to walk miles for safe water, and Celestine does not have to worry about water mak
The generosity of our partners and friends like you has made it possible for Celestine and Grandma Anne to have safe water nearby. By continuing to partner with us, you will help women and children around the world have hope for a future where they never have to walk for water again.
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