How a villager duped Donors

There is nothing interesting about the commissioning of a well, however, this particular one was. Here’s why…

Situated approximately 600 kilometers to the South of Nairobi, lies the quiet Kimile village. Kimile is faced by water shortage and poverty, and so, when the villagers got wind that some Europeans, known locally as the Mzungus, or  Asungu, would come to inspect a well they had funded, they could not miss out.

On that sunny Saturday in August 2012, at about 7:30am, they all gathered at Mutiso Kivindyo’s homestead.They came in their hundreds. Some barefoot, some with mitungi’s (water containers), others with children on their backs; men, women, children, and even some goats. 

Some rumour had been spread to the effect that there would be freebies (mwolyo) being offered.  Therefore, some came with bags, just in case. At about 10am, two Mzungus-a lady and a gentleman-arrived in a four-wheel drive vehicle, accompanied by two officials, of African descent, from an international humanitarian agency, let’s call it AF (not the real name).

The two Africans had been present since the digging of the well begun. However, they had not revealed to the office that this was not a project undertaken by the entire community, as was required. It had been a well-concealed secret, only they and Kivindyo knew that all along it had been his own initiative. He had hired a young man to dig up the well. Prior to that, he had approached AF, and the two gentlemen promised to help him. In that area, AF has an initiative in which they identify a donor  who subsequently funds a water project.

There is a caveat! They only fund projects whereby the whole community participates in.  That was not the case at Kimile, meaning the initiative was ‘illegal’. However, AF provided Kivindyo with several stacks of wire mesh, close to 20 bags of cement, and even paid a mason to construct it. Further, they provided him with a foot pump, all these funded by the italians. This was a major boost for Kivindyo, for had he undertaken to buy the materials by himself, he would have incurred a cost of more than Ksh 500, 000 ($ 6,000). 

He eventually built the well, at a much lower cost, for his personal usage. However, since the donors had to be convinced that his was actually a community project, possible doubts had to be dealt with. Kivindyo made the villagers come with Mitungis to collect water at ‘their’ well. No chances, it had to work. To ensure that the villagers would attend, he called them for a meeting the Saturday before. In this meeting, the two men from AF attended and handed over Sh 200 participation fee to those present.

Villagers were then called upon to return the following Saturday for the major event, whereupon the Mzungus would attend. The residents then spread word, especially the bit about the token.  So much such that, on the material day, they toppled the previous number by far. Kivindyo had strictly charged the villagers not to act in a manner that would jeopardize the initiative; he therefore would be the Chairperson and spokesperson of the non-existent Kimile Community Project.

When the Mzungus came, he took them through a 30-minute speech on the project, and answered any questions they had. Satisfied, they went ahead and tasted the water. “Mmh, good!” said one. The other, with a smile on the eyes, leaned over, and using the hands, tasted the water. Wonderful! Came the comment.

They spoke for a few minutes, and since the villagers seemed uninterested in their speeches, they invited them to fetch water. The Mzunguz watched with pity as the villagers collected the rare commodity, and later on left, thinking that they had made water available, and also assured that the water was owned by the entire neighbourhood. It was not true.
 

Either way, water was brought closer to the villagers, a win of sorts for them. How they will be acquiring the resource, if at all, will be a matter for Kivindyo to determine.