Lucy’s Journey to Safe Water in Kambu, Kenya
Waking up before the sun at 5 a.m., Lucy grabbed the 10-liter container and left her home to collect water. With her two kids getting ready for school, she faced the strenuous hike alone to a nearby spring in Kambu, Kenya.
The dangers of this hike extended beyond the steep, rocky landscape: Lucy was 8 months pregnant, and the water she was collecting was unsafe to consume.
Walking an average of 1.5 kilometers, waiting hours to access the water, then carrying the heavy containers on their backs on the return trip was the reality many women and girls faced every day in Kambu. The task of collecting water affected more than just their physical exhaustion—it also affected their education.
I started collecting water when I was 4 or 5 years old. Back then, I had to go five times as far to get the water, and it took two hours to get there. Because of the scarcity of water, we went to school with dirty clothes. We would be late for school because of getting water and would be punished by the teacher.
After a long hike to a nearby spring, Lucy fills her water containers with untreated, unsafe water.
Reflecting on how the water situation still impacted her, Lucy shared about the effect that consuming unsafe water had on her own family. Her kids often suffered from illnesses caused by the water, which forced them to miss school and became a financial burden.
With a baby on the way, Lucy was already thinking ahead to the multiple trips to the spring required to deliver her child at the local hospital.
Now, when you deliver a baby, you need to bring 10 liters [of water] to deliver the baby. Your caretaker must also bring more every day for the three days you’re in the hospital. This is for bathing and cleaning up after the delivery.
Leading up to her delivery, Lucy anxiously waited for the day to come. However, this anticipation had recently changed from the stress of collecting water to the excitement for the new project in her community that would supply safe water.
In 2024, caring people like you enabled Water Mission to complete one of the largest projects we’ve implemented in Kenya. In May 2026, this best-in-class safe water project in Kambu was expanded to serve all 15,000 people in the Kambu area. The project provides safe water via tap stands not just to households, but to four primary schools, two secondary schools, a hospital, and a community technical training institute.
I’m very happy because now we will have safe water. We won’t need firewood to boil the water anymore. The baby will have clean water, and so will I. When I go to the hospital for the delivery, they will also have water [available there].
Today in Kambu, women like Lucy no longer spend hours every day walking long, and sometimes dangerous, paths for unsafe water. Because of the safe water solutions implemented in the Kambu community, safe water is accessible to all, leading to healthier families.
But Lucy’s story is not yet everyone’s story. Millions of women and children still walk more than three miles to collect water every day. This is why we walk.
When you join a Walk for Water event, you help raise funds to end the global water crisis. Walking in the shoes of our global neighbors helps bring awareness to the issue and ultimately helps save lives by providing safe water to these communities. With your help, we can turn more people's lives into a story like Lucy’s.
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