Clean Water For All

District Public Health Officer

So my 9:00 am meeting kicked off right on time at 11:15 this morning.  Fortunately, it was worth the wait and we had a very productive meeting with the District Public Health Officer overseeing Kibera.  It’s becoming very clear that the District Officer who we’ve met with a few times is a strong supporter of our organization when listening to his introduction.  He can articulate the need for our presence and the value of our model about as clearly as I can.  After the conversation with the District Public Health Officer, I believe he’s now just as big an ally.  Both officials clearly recognize that poor water quality at the time of consumption is a likely contributor to the outbreaks of cholera they’re currently experiencing and waterborne disease in general within Kibera.  They also seem to have a lot of confidence in our operating model and strategy, which is quite encouraging. 

Next week we will present our concept to a large group of 15-20 community leaders and water vendors.  I anticipate a lot more questions and a bit more skepticism in this group, but it will be a challenge that I’m very much looking forward to.  Fortunately I’ll now have the District Officer and District Public Health Officer at my side to lend credibility and political cover.  My hope is that after next week’s meeting, we’ll receive the approval to register as an official organization with the Kenyan government and the go-ahead to begin operations when we’re ready.  I’ll certainly post an update next week after the meeting with hopefully good news.  Things are starting to get exciting!

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Kibera Water Vendor

Yesterday morning my general manager, assistant manager, vice chairman and I met with the District Officer (DO) who oversees Kibera.  I had met with the DO back in May and he was supportive of the idea, but the model has since changed dramatically.  Fortunately, he was equally if not more excited to hear our current plans.  He told us that one area within Kibera is currently suffering from an outbreak of Cholera fueled by poor water quality and sanitation, and that our plan could really help the government’s efforts in getting it under control.  Over the next couple of weeks the DO will be setting up additional meetings with government and community leaders so we can present our idea and get their input and buy-in.  Once that is accomplished, we will be able to register the non-profit with the Kenyan government and have the official authorization to launch the pilot.  Then we just have the minor detail of securing funding and we’ll be off and running.

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I’ve been fortunate to meet several Kenyans who have been helping on the Kibera Kiosk project including a branch manager of local MFI Jamii Bora, an entrepreneurial Kibera resident, and a water engineer (along with Steve, the general manager).  Today we all met to brainstorm solutions to a big problem that was uncovered during recent business planning.  If you remember from past posts, our business concept involved treating water in huge quantities and then repackaging the clean water in 500 liter containers that would be shipped to the kiosks.  What didn’t initially occur to me was just how heavy a 500 liter container of water would be.  As it turns out, it’s heavy (about 1,100 lbs).  Considering a 500 liter container would only service about 25 households per day, that means we’d have to transfer a lot of very heavy containers all around an area with no real roads.  It seemed there must be a better way to do it.

We thought up a couple different solutions, including one where we have fixed 500 liter tanks at all the kiosks and just try to connect them directly to the main public water pipe.  Then they could just fill up directly whenever they ran out.  That could work, but it would certainly take some effort to launch new kiosks and it’s hard to guess if the government would support the idea. 

What we eventually realized is that any system that involves creating a new water source is really duplicating the distribution process.  The most efficient system would be if the existing infrastructure simply delivered clean water and everyone took care to keep their water containers clean to prevent re-contamination.  The next best thing would be families treating the potentially contaminated water in their homes right before usage either with a water filter or chlorine.  Since many people can’t afford a filter and are unaware or unwilling to use chlorine themselves, the third best option would be to treat the water that people are already used to purchasing.

Kibera Kiosk Vendor

At each public tap there is a vendor who collects the water fee.  If that person had a little stand with a bottle of chlorine and could add the correct dosage right after a resident refills, it would ensure that the water was now clean.  If that person also had a sponge, some soap, and some chlorinated water, he could also clean out the resident’s water container on a periodic basis before refilling, thus ensuring that the clean water is still clean when it gets back to the home.  Lastly, if that person sold better water containers with a spigot, it would prevent re-contamination at the point of use.  (Some water containers have an opening at the top and it’s not uncommon for people to dip a cup into it to get water.  Unfortunately, if their unwashed hand makes contact with the water, it can easily contaminate it)

We still need to hash out several details, but this new model of adding services to the existing water source may be a very cost-effective way to reduce water contamination at all points in the supply chain.  Stay tuned for future developments and as always, please feel free to post a comment if you have a question or suggestion.

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Kibera Slums

I’m excited to report that we’re continuing to move forward on the development of the budget and business case for the Kibera water kiosk initiative.  Steve Mumbwani will be traveling to Nairobi next week to work with Andrew Otieno on researching startup costs.  This is a critical step because once we have more accurate cost estimates, we can begin fundraising.  I’m delighted that the team is so dedicated to the initiative even in my absence. 

It’s interesting to note that the cost of Steve’s “business trip” including round trip transportation from Eldoret to Nairobi, lodging for a week in Nairobi, and all meals and in-city transportation comes to a whopping $130 USD.  That’s insanely low even for Kenyan business standards, but Steve is committed to keeping costs down while we’re in start up mode. 

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I know I’ve been quite over the past few weeks, so I wanted to give everyone an update on the Kibera kiosk initiative.  I recently received some very positive feedback from the District Officer in Kibera in response to the executive summary I submitted.  He commented that the initiative, “is going to bring about positive change to the kibera community especially women and youth groups” and that he is still very interested in working with us.

I was very fortunate to find two other Nairobi locals who are helping Steven and me to get the organization off the ground.  Andrew Otieno is the branch manager of a micro-finance institution that serves Kibera and the surrounding areas.  Fredrick (Freddy) Omondi is a Kibera resident who first introduced me to Kibera and gave me the tour at the very beginning of my trip to Kenya.  The four of us are soliciting cost estimates for the major startup equipment such as the 10,000 liter water tanks, the office building, etc.  Once that excercise is complete, we will be nearly ready to move forward with the critical task of acquiring funding for our startup costs.  As discussed earlier, the pricing is set so ongoing operations will be financially self-sustaining.  However, the initial build out will require philanthropic capital.  I’ll provide more details as we develop the full budget and business case.  I’ll also try to post updates a bit more frequently in the coming days and weeks.

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