WATER IS LIFE - Successful completion of project
It is finally complete. The „Water is life. We build a water supply for our children’s home Maua Villa" campaign has been successfully completed. The children's home Maua Villa and the surrounding community (about 500 residents) are enjoying the new water source. This has all been made possible thanks to your donations!! 
After the 2016 water survey revealed that water is present on the Maua Villa property, a 160 meter deep borehole was successfully drilled. Thanks to the commitment of „Evers Stiftung“, who financed a large part of the costs, it was possible to drill the well already in July 2017. 
After the construction of the water tower planned for January 2018 took longer than expected, the solar water pump installation was successfully completed on 18.02.18. It only took two days to install the pump, solar panels and water pipes. The Maua Villa children have curiously followed the work. The leftover packaging and installation material made children's hearts beat faster and was quickly turned into toys. It’s always amazing how satisfied our children are with simple things.
And then it was time to go live - suddenly we had our own water supply! No more carrying heavy canisters filled with water. We are privileged to have instant access to what is arguably the most important resource in this arid environment. We shared this with great pleasure with the local community, which was able to pick up the water for free for a week. People proudly carried 46,960 liters of water on their backs, on wheelbarrows, donkeys, cow carts, bicycles and even on motorcycles.
A survey of 149 villagers revealed that an average family of 5 requires 168 liters of water per day. The answer to the question ¨Imagine you had one wish. What would it be?“ was obvious with 93% of respondents expressing a desire for constantly-available water. The transport route of the water is on average 1.7 km.
There is immense gratitude from the community at being able to replenish their own water supply during the dry season free of charge and for the fair price of 3 Kenyan shillings/Ksh. (ca. 0,024 € -Cent) per 20 liter canister going forward. The proceeds of the sale are intended to cover maintenance costs, salary of the water seller and at best a contribution to cover ongoing Maua Villa costs.
THANK YOU for every single donation. THANK YOU for sharing our campaign and every personal effort to achieve our goal of providing water in Kivingoni (Machakos County). YOU have made that possible!!
And this is just the beginning. The water project now allows us to start operating our own sustainable agriculture (without dependence on the rainy season). „Soon“ Maua Villa should also live up to its name as ‘Maua’ means blooming in Swahili.
The gratitude of the Maua Villa family and the local community is expressed by our Housemum Florence in this video.
In case of any questions please don't hesitate to reach out.
From the bottom of my heart ASANTI SANA!
Yours,
Anja
P.S. Regular updates on progress in Maua Villa can be found here.