Improving health, improving lives
This short film demonstrates how Excellent Development's work supports the health and well-being of rural communities in dryland Kenya.
1.8 million people a year die of something as simple as diarrhoea; 90% of those are children below the age of 5. The ill-health of a community limits their ability to collect enough water and grow enough food, creating a vicious downward spiral resulting in the death of the most vulnerable. With unclean water being a major source of illness in Africa, sand dams can have an enormous effect on the health of the whole community.
Supported by terracing and sand dams, communities can grow a wider range of crops improving nutrition and providing income generating opportunities from excess production. Whilst water and food are the biggest priorities for farmers in semi-arid Africa; appropriate solutions can protect the long-term health of communities as well.
In Meka self-help group, it was one area where we had seen thirty people die. The major issue was that whenever somebody died, everybody’s speculation was they had AIDS, but it was because they took dirty water from the river. After making those dams, we hardly hear of people dying, because they are getting clean water.
Joshua Mukusya, Co-founder of Excellent Development in Kenya
