Leocadia Olima, 55, is a community nurse employed by the Kenya Ministry of Health. A GWAKO (Groups of Women in
Water & Agricultural Kochieng) volunteer, she has taught seminars to their women’s groups for six years, easily switching from English or Kiswahili to Luo to address members in their own language. She describes concrete, simple action steps that can be done at home even by those without education.
She shows club members how to handle water: “Carry it home from the river in a clean container with a closed top. Add three or four chlorine pills (depending on the container size). Pour the water into the first bucket. The next day, pour it into a second bucket; the residue will remain. When the water reaches the fourth bucket, it can be used for cooking and drinking. By the time it has been cooked, it will be pure.”
On malnutrition: “Keep hens for eggs. Grow vegetables.” (Leocadia thinks nutrition is so important that she and her eight children grow enough onions, tomatoes, carrots, maize and millet to feed 800 students at two elementary schools).
On waterborne diseases: “Go to the nearest hospital for tests. With diarrhea, which can happen at night when there is no means to get to the hospital, the patient could die. Mix salt and water, boil and cool it, then give it to the patient little by little, while looking for ways to get to the hospital where care and drugs are free.” GWAKO women listen closely. They know from experience that chronic diarrhea can prevent their children’s growth and leach the energy required to attend school or work.
Leocadia is planning to retire in five months, but she will continue volunteering with GWAKO. “I am grateful and thankful that GWAKO selected me to be their volunteer. When you have knowledge and keep it within you, it does nothing. If you distribute it, it will help a great deal.” When GWAKO started, “People knew they had diarrhea and vomiting, but they didn’t know the cause. We added knowledge to the communities. We tell them to change, give them water, and the problem is solved. Water is life. That is all.”
GWAKO formed in 1998 to provide clean water, improve women's health, protect girls' right to education, and boost women's economic status. Like Nobel Prize winner Wangari Maathai's tree-planting Greenbelt Movement in Kenya, GWAKO empowers women by involving them in the improvement of their environment.
Working with women in 14 villages across western Kenya, GWAKO is building sustainable wells, conducting community education about hygiene and sanitation, training women farmers to produce higher yields and installing washing facilities and latrines in schools. GWAKO supplements these activities by facilitating the formation of girls' clubs in schools to promote self-esteem and life skills.
In January 2005, GWAKO received an $18,000 Global Fund grant to build and reinforce wells in five villages, and to expand its ecological sanitation project. The project aims to install composting and urine diversion toilets in schools and other community areas, and to train women farmers on how to reuse waste as fertilizer. To learn more or to donate, please click here
To learn more about the Global Fund for Women, please click here
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