Walking for Water, Daily – No Water No Life

Interviewee

Jane Nyambura

Housekeeper/Cook in Nairobi

Interviewer

Alison M. Jones

NWNL Director and Photographer

In Langata, Kenya on February 22, 2018

Introductory Note

I’ve known “Janey” since 1985 when she was beloved nanny for my friends’ two daughters Emily and Olivia. She also is the greatest “chapati” maker; and has shared with me her recipe after several coaching sessions for her great “rolled and baked pancakes” served with soups and other wonderful meals.

Her faith in “can do” and “getting through” has been an inspiration to me – and she’s been a friend to my own daughters. I thank Janey for the many cups of tea she has brought me while working and for letting me see Kenya through her eyes. And I must thank her for her sweet songs that add joy to every day I am with her.

Outline

A MAU FOREST HOME
FETCHING WATER IN MOLO
MOLO GARDENING & WEATHER
IMPROVED WATER AVAILABILITY
FUEL WOOD & DROUGHT
MAU FOREST – Near MOLO

Key Quote Our mamas teach us how to carry the water. When we start growing, we carry bigger cans, like our mamas’ cans, and learn how they carry the water…. Because our river is moving, its water is clean. Yet, if you want clean water, you still must wake up early in the morning to be sure to get clean water…. We don’t go to get water after 12 noon or 1 pm, because by then the cows will have come to drink water in the river [and will poop].

A MAU FOREST HOME

NWNL Janey, I’ve known you since 1985 and want to chat about your childhood and the daily challenge you’ve faced collecting clean fresh water. Let’s start with where you grew up.

JANE NYAMBURA My home is in Molo, north of Nairobi in the Nakuru district. [Ed Note: Molo is the northern tip of the Mau Forest, source of the Mara River.]

NWNL You’ve said you grew up in a small village – not like Nairobi.

JANE NYAMBURA No, no. Molo is not like Nairobi; and I was in a small village near Molo.

NWNL Was the climate there like the weather here in Langata, just outside Nairobi?

JANE NYAMBURA The weather sometimes is very cold in Molo. Now, in February, it’s very hot; but the night and early morning are very cold.

FETCHING WATER IN MOLO

NWNL How do people in your village get water?

JANE NYAMBURA We get some water from the river and some people in Molo get it from the tap.

NWNL Is the tap inside th homes of people who have taps, or outside?

JANE NYAMBURA Some people in Molo build taps in their house, and some bring the water into the house from their pumps. Also, some get water from the government.

NWNL Could you safely drink the water you got from the river, or is that just for washing?

JANE NYAMBURA We still put a water tank out when it is raining so we can have clean water. We keep that for drinking. But when it’s not raining, we do drink water from the river.

NWNL Can you safely drink river water? Do people ever get sick from that water?

JANE NYAMBURA No, no, no. At our place, the water is clean because there are trees with leaves on the branches. And in the river there are big stones. Our river has a big stone. That is why the water doesn’t get dirty. We are not sick from that water. I’ve never heard that happening with water from the river where I come from. It is not dirty because we are not near the town. Near the town, there’s “chafu” [Swahili for dirtiness] everywhere.

But, you know, if you live near the town, that water is very dirty because all the people leave their “taka taka” outside [Swahili for garbage] and throw it in the river. But out near our place, people can’t leave their “taka taka” around outside. We must burn it.

JANE NYAMBURA We kept our garden and yard clean. And our river, has that big stone [gesturing about 4 feet high]. And there were small stones like 2 feet high. There is a tree there also. We also know the water in that the river is good because it is not stagnant.

NWNL So it’s always moving water?

JANE NYAMBURA Yes, the stones and trees move the water. If a river’s water stays in one place, it gets dirty and it gets many “du-du’s” [Swahili for “bugs”]. But because our river is moving, its water is clean. Yet, if you want clean water, you still must wake up early in the morning to be sure to get clean water. Then you put the water you will drink in the house, where it is cold – like you put water in the fridge.

It’s very cool early in the morning. We don’t go to get water after 12 noon or 1 pm, because by then the cows will have come to drink water in the river.

NWNL And they make it dirty?

JANE NYAMBURA Yes, when cows are in the river, they go into the mud and poop there. But our place to get water is above where the cows come. We get water up where there is stone. Because where there is stone, the water is clean. And we get our water early in the morning,- definitely before 1:00 pm and in afternoon around 6:00 pm.

NWNL So when going to the river to get the water, what did you carry it in?

JANE NYAMBURA I carried our water on my back with a jerrycan – a big one. We started when we were young with a small one. Our mamas teach us how to carry the water. When we start growing, we carry bigger cans, like our mamas’ cans, and learn how they carry the water.

NWNL Did you always have enough water?

JANE NYAMBURA Yes. Even when it is dry around us, we have always water, even if there’s no rain. But when no rains, there is not much water. Yet it helps us by always having enough water.

NWNL Has there always water in the river, even if there was no rain?

JANE NYAMBURA Yes, even during drought. I have never seen our river dry.

MOLO GARDENING & WEATHER

NWNL Your family had a garden. What did you grow as food for the family?

JANE NYAMBURA My father planted pyrethrum. Pyrethrum comes from Molo So he planted pyrethrum and maize, but he didn’t mix pyrethrum, maize and beans together. He planted the pyrethrum separately.

After my dad and mom died, nobody planted food anymore. But now we have maize, beans, potatoes and vegetables like cabbage, or “sakuma’ (Swahili for kale). But we have no tomatoes. We buy tomatoes because of the weather.

NWNL Did you have a cow for milk?

JANE NYAMBURA Yes, we did. But now we don’t have a cow. It is sad, but we had nothing in the garden after my parents died when all gardening stopped. It is very hard.

NWNL What do you do when you go home on leave? Do you go back to the same village and its community?

JANE NYAMBURA Yes – and our home now has a garden again. I go back to where my mom and my father were living. But nowadays, we have no house.

NWNL Is the weather there different today than it was when you were a little girl? Do you think it’s hotter? Do you think it’s dryer?

JANE NYAMBURA It’s changed. When I was little, it was very cold early in the morning when we woke up.

NWNL Yes, you’ve told me your hands were often cold.

JANE NYAMBURA We had snow! As I looked outside when I was little, I could look at the grass outside and see it covered with snow. When you put your leg out, it was very cold like ice. But now this is changed – it’s not like before. Now the people are digging fields and building different types of houses. People are different now.

NWNL Jane, you say that when you were a little girl it was like ice in the morning; but it seems that isn’t that way now. Do you think the weather has changed?

JANE NYAMBURA Yes, but it is still very cold. When I go home, I need to wear something warm – like socks and jumpers [Kenyan’s term for “sweaters”].

IMPROVED WATER AVAILABILITY

NWNL When you go home, where do you now get your water and how do you get it?

JANE NYAMBURA We still get our water from the river.

NWNL Do people still carry it back up to their homes themselves?

JANE NYAMBURA No, they are now using donkeys.

NWNL But, there are still no pipes or pumps to transport water to your homes?

JANE NYAMBURA No. They use donkeys, so at least we don’t have to put water on our backs now to carry water.

NWNL When did people start buying donkeys so people could stop having to carry water on their backs from the river to their homes?

JANE NYAMBURA I don’t know. People have used donkeys a long time because the donkey can do so many jobs. They go far, and so they help the people carry the things to sell in the market. My mom had a nice donkey. She loved her donkey because two times a day it would come with us to get water that we put in jerrycans. That wasn’t very far, which is important because nobody wants to make their donkey tired.

NWNL How far does your donkey walk to get to the river? What’s that distance?

JANE NYAMBURA We are not very far from the river. It’s as far as from here to Ndorobo Lane. That is the distance when you walk to Kim’s house.

NWNL Ah, maybe half a mile. It’s good that most people now use donkeys. Do you think the government will soon put in pipes to bring water from the river instead of your having to use donkeys?

JANE NYAMBURA They wanted to bring the water, but we are fairly near the river, so they decided not to. Maybe we will have pipes in later years. If the government doesn’t want to do that, it’s okay because the river is still clean water.

NWNL Is it as clean as it was when you were a little girl?

JANE NYAMBURA I would say yes. I never heard of somebody getting sick because of our river; and we are not washing the clothes in the river, no! And we do not shower in the river, no! If the people there saw you doing that, they would catch you and take you to the jail to police.

NWNL So where or how do you take a shower?

JANE NYAMBURA We bring water to the house, but not inside, to shower. We still get water from the same place where the cows get their water.

We still go early in the morning before the cows and in the afternoon. Actually, river water is not good because the cows go in the river to drink the water.

NWNL So there’s a word I often use: “upstream.” It is where the river begins and is still little – before it gets bigger, bigger, and goes down to its final lake, sea or ocean. We say the river flows “down.” So, if a cow comes in poops and makes it dirty, you want to get your water from up above that spot, “upstream” – where the river is still clean – right?!

JANE NYAMBURA Yes, the cows were not getting into the water upstream. Upstream, the river’s bottom is stone, and there is grass between stones. The cows drink where is a kind of hole for water; so now the cows stay outside the river. They poop outside that area around the hole, not in the river.

NWNL And yet, it’s still better to drink the water above where they go.

JANE NYAMBURA Yeah, they drink, and then they leave. Fortunately, not many cows there because while some people have two cows, many people have only one cow. In Molo, we are not like Maasai, who are people owning many cows.

NWNL Oh, no, they’re different. Oh, no, I know. [Laughter.]

FUEL WOOD & DROUGHT

NWNL What do you use for cooking water? You’ve talked about going with your donkeys to get “kuni” [firewood, in Swahili]. What do you and your neighbors use now for cooking, instead of cutting down trees to make ‘kuni”? Do they use charcoal or gas?

JANE NYAMBURA The people are each different. They were using gas. Now they sometimes use charcoal or firewood.

NWNL Do you think your home will get electricity some day?

JANE NYAMBURA I heard my brother say they tried to bring some in now. We knew the government wanted to, and that the people tried get it. There are so many people and they have tried to get it everywhere. When I was home, they started measuring to figure out how they can bring electricity to us.

NWNL We’ve talked about the weather being different and hotter – and you’ve said your river has water all the time….

JANE NYAMBURA Yeah.

NWNL But is it full of water even now during this fierce nation-wide drought?

JANE NYAMBURA Yeah. Because we have two rivers. There is another big river with a big water. The people are scared to go there when it is raining. When it’s full of water, you can’t cross there.

NWNL What is the name of that river?

JANE NYAMBURA It’s the one I call Molo River. But we don’t drink from Molo River. We drink from the other one – the one that has many stones, nice stones.

NWNL So Molo River is not good for drinking because it’s dirty?

JANE NYAMBURA The Molo River is very far from home, so we drink water from the closer one. There we can cross when there is not too much rain. But when it is too much rain, you can’t pass there.

NWNL But your little river still always has water?

JANE NYAMBURA Yes – even that one is still full, because it has so many stones – so many stones, that is why. But the other one doesn’t have many stones. They’re big, but there are not many stones. In this big river, the water comes like this…. [Jane makes sound of “Shhhhhhh….”

NWNL Ah, like a waterfall!

JANE NYAMBURA Yes. But the people are scared to go to the big river because when the water is coming down hard, we can’t easily capture the water. That is why we don’t like the big waterfall.

NWNL Yes, I understand it can be dangerous; and you say it’s maybe 20 feet across.

Janey, do you think there are a lot more people in Kenya now than when you were a little girl – when you were a “toto” [Swahili for “child]?

JANE NYAMBURA Yes, there are more people than – it’s not like before.

NWNL What do you think is going to happen to the amount of water if there continue to be and more and more and more people – because more people will have more babies, and more and more. So are you worried about what’s going to happen to the water?

JANE NYAMBURA No.

NWNL No! You think there will always be enough water and food from the garden that needs water?

JANE NYAMBURA Yes, because I know that at our place we have water every time.

NWNL That’s great.

JANE NYAMBURA Yeah, even now when I go there, there is water. And we have so many rivers come down there and go to town. That is why.

MAU FOREST – Near MOLO

NWNL Is your home near the forest with lots of trees?

JANE NYAMBURA No, no.

NWNL Is your home on flat land?

JANE NYAMBURA No. And it’s good we are up high, even the rainiest rains can’t get flood our place where we are We are happy because we are safe like that.

NWNL So you’re high, but not too high. It’s just a “mlima kubwa’ [Swahili for “big hill”].

JANE NYAMBURA But not a high mountain. We are happy because even with rain and rain and rain, the water, can’t get here in our house. And we are not building next to each other.

NWNL That’s nice, it’s not crowded.

JANE NYAMBURA You can stay by yourself like that.

NWNL That’s so nice.

JANE NYAMBURA Yeah, our place is very nice – and I’ve never been there without water.

NWNL Yay, that’s so great! May you always have water. And, Jane, thank you so much for sharing your story!

Posted by NWNL on August 8, 2024.
Transcription edited and condensed for clarity by Alison M. Jones.

Walking for Water, Daily Mara River Basin