Not Enough Water!

My friend Anne lives in a place where there is not enough water. She has a big job - carrying the water her family needs to their house every day. She has a big heart, too (like me!), and wants to be a nurse.

Anne Mosiri Photo: CWS East Africa

The Rift Valley of Kenya in Africa often has long dry spells, or droughts. Fourteen-year-old Anne Mosiri lives in this valley with her parents, two brothers, and one sister. When it does not rain, life is hard for Anne’s family. They are Maasai people, who depend upon animals for their living. When most of the family’s animals died in a severe drought, there was no money for her to go to school and Anne had to stay home for a year.

Now Anne is glad to be back in Paranae School, even though it is a long walk from her home. The school building is small and simply furnished. Some students must sit on the floor or share seats because there are not enough desks and chairs for everyone. Because there is no water supply, each child must bring water from home for drinking or washing. The school has no electricity either. Animals graze on the school grounds and sometimes damage the schoolrooms because there is no fence around the school. With the help of Church World Service, the parents and teachers are improving the school by building a fence and planning a way to provide water to the school.

After school each day Anne has many chores. She milks the goats and chops wood for cooking and heating. But her biggest job is to carry the water for her family from a well over a mile from her home. Anne would like to study when her chores are done, but by that time it is getting dark, and they have no lamp. So Anne gets to school very early each day in order to study and to do her homework. She studies hard because she wants to be a nurse. “I want to help the sick and care for them,” she says.