LIVING WATER INTERNATIONAL MAKES SPLASH IN KENYA

UNCLAS NAIROBI 000145 SIPDIS STATE PASS TO USAID FOR AF A/A LLOYD PIERSON STATE FOR AF A/S FRAZER STATE PLEASE PASS TO OPIC ROBERT MOSBACHER AND TO CONGRESSIONAL OFFICES OF SENATORS FRIST AND BROWNBACK AND REPRESENTATIVES CHRIS SMITH, TOM TANCREDO, JOHN CULBERSON E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM SENV EAID OREP KE SUBJECT: LIVING WATER INTERNATIONAL MAKES SPLASH IN KENYA ¶1. Living Water International, the Texas-based Christian NGO that specializes in bringing clean water to rural communities in developing countries, scored a signal success in Kenya January 10 when President Kibaki and cabinet ministers spent more than 8 hours with the group inaugurating two new wells in drought-stricken Maasai land. As in other rural parts of Kenya, these areas of Maasai land, less than two hours from downtown Nairobi, are currently dustbowls where scrawny cattle and goats scavenge a bone-dry landscape. ¶2. Stung by criticism at home of an allegedly slow GOK response to the drought and widespread hunger, President Kibaki appears to have seized the opportunity presented by Living Water to demonstrate his involvement in projects to ease rural suffering. All major media January 11 carried photos and stories of President Kibaki turning on the taps at the two wells and personally filling plastic jerricans. In his remarks to large crowds at both locations, Kibaki repeatedly thanked our American friends, Living Water International and the US Embassy and government for coming forward to help Kenya in a moment of great need. ¶3. In its 11 years of operation in Kenya, Living Water asserts that it has dug more than 300 wells and brought clean water to one million Kenyans. Some of the wells serve rural communities and agricultural and livestock production (as do the two wells lls opened January 10),and some serve schools and hospitals which otherwise, lacking reliable water, would not exist. ¶4. Long-standing relationships with Kenyan religious and humanitarian counterparts, plus good relations with a number of key politicians and cabinet figures, have enabled Living Water to operate widely and continuously across Kenya over the past decade. The Living Water commitment to Kenya appears to extend well into the future, with plans for bringing additional drilling rigs into the country and locating new sites already well underway. Bellamy