It was always a dance with danger in search of water - Kubi Dibayu water project is truly a lifeline
Halima Galma fetching water from the Kubi Dibayu tap in Marsabit. Photo by Misheck Macharia/Oxfam
Halima Guyo, or as she’s affectionately known, MamaGuyo, is no ordinary woman. Armed with nothing but a jerrycan and a prayer, she’d embark on a daily trek, under the unforgiving sun of Marsabit county. Her quest? Water. Precious, life-giving water. A simple commodity, but in Kubi Dibayo, it was a luxury all so elusive. Forty kilometers!
Halima Galmo fetching water from a dam. Photo by Misheck Macharia/Oxfam
That was the daily trek. The water source? A dam, a muddy, unpredictable body of water that often ran dry. When the dam failed, the women were forced to venture even deeper in search of water. A distance that would make any one consider their life choices. But for Mama Guyo, and countless other women in the community, it was a brutal routine. A dance with danger, as they stood the risk of encountering Elephants along the way. It was a world where fetching water wasn’t just a chore; it was survival.
The dam was murky and often it promised disease as much as water. It was a cruel irony: a place of life, yet life threatening. The DFAT project was what they needed. SND installed a borehole and a towering water tank right in the heart of Kubi Dibayo. Forty kilometres transformed into five. It was the change they needed, a miracle in the making.
Halima Galbo watering vegetable at her home-garden. Photo by Micheck Macharia/Oxfam
“Everyone is happy about the borehole. It has completely eased the water burden.
Due to the borehole I have been able to start a kitchen garden thus ensuring food
safety on my end, where I do not lack food at all. “
“Everyone is happy about the borehole. It has completely eased the water burden.Due to the borehole I have been able to start a kitchen garden thus ensuring foodsafety on my end, where I do not lack food at all.”
Kubi Dibayo currently provides water to over 4000 households within the region in Marsabit County. The partnership with the Strategies for Northern Development (SND), Asal Hmanitarian Network (AHN) and the community has incredibly birthed a life-changing milestone to envy in the predominalty arid northern region.
''Thank you SND! Thank you DFAT! Thank you for remembering the women of Kubi
Dibayo.'' Concluded Halima, with a chuckle.