First dam built in Kenya

This year’s team of summer volunteers in Kenya have been hard at work, having already completed their first dam – read their story below.

On arrival we are taken on a tour of some existing dams to get an idea of the final product we hope to achieve. The fields around the dams are lush and green, in juxtaposition to the sandy semi-arid landscape of most of Africa. Once we have arrived at our dam sight we meet the KiKamba communities we will be working with and are introduced to such personalities as Cheesy Munyao (crazy Munyao), Teacher, Jacqueline and Cornelius. Natalie is the first of the group to be given her own Kamba name (Indunge) but soon many of us receive ours including several Ngumbao and a Canini. Learning KiKamba words is important, as many of the community do not speak English, so phrases like Wamu Kata? Watin Data? Nuseo and Watcha? Aah! Are used daily.

As the week goes on the group improves its cement mixing skills so much we could be considered Pro's. On our first full day we managed to mix 147 bags of cement! Despite this, we still accumulated some injuries and cement burns. However, these haven't managed to quell our enthusiasm. Our breaks are spent sipping piping hot Chai tea, which is very sugary, or eating on beans in great quantities that we have flavoured with chilli sauce.

Week two sees the end of our first dam! It's amazing that the group has only been together one week and already we know each other so well. We visit the new dam site before we start working proper, tomorrow. The site is much smaller but the terrain is steeper and the rocks and water needed for the dam further afield, meaning we will probably take just as long to build this second one as we did the first. The community greeted us excellently with singing and dancing and we are excited to get started and get to know this new group of Kamba as well as our first community.

Congratulations to the team for all their hard work, visit the blog sooner for their latest progress update.

Would you like to be building sand dams in Kenya next year? Click here to find out more about the project, as well as Gap Year volunteering and next year’s summer adventure.