The Ripon Rotary Club, in concert with New Life Community Center (NLCC), and generous grants provided by Rotary District 6270, has endeavored to bring clean drinking water to an orphanage and its surrounding village of Ndonyo in the Kisii district of southwest Kenya. Past practice has been to haul shallow well water by hand up to the orphanage.  This water has not been filtered, causing a number of health problems.

The Orphanage now serves about 64 children. The complex is quickly becoming a center for medical care (as Ripon area medical professionals are making continuous trips to the orphanage to bring medical supplies and training local EMTs and Medical Technicians). The resident teams at the orphanage are beginning to branch out to provide services to the approximately 14,000 local residents.

The NLCC facility has a church building, educational building, dormitory, cooking facility, activity center and latrine. There is a building, which has been designated for a medical clinic, but it is not currently in use for the lack of clean water and electricity. Water is currently available at the bottom of a ravine from a spring. The ravine is deep and it is over 100 yards down a 45-degree path. There is no electricity to the village of Ndonyo located in remote western Kenya.

The first phase of Ripon Rotary’s involvement in the project provided geologic evaluation, permits, and extension of the electrical service to the village to power the pump. The electric service currently runs to within 1.5 kilometers of the village. Phase two is the actual drilling of the well, testing water quality and installation of pump and plumbing supplies.

The Ripon Rotary Club’s fundraising activities directly impact this project, and three Ripon Rotarians have been on site and will continue to make trips to Kenya.

Ripon Rotarian Dr. Paul Nelsen is actively involved in the conception, development, and execution of this project. Dr. Nelsen and his wife Rosemary regularly visit the Orphanage providing medical advice and service as well as physical help with other orphanage projects.

Dan Ige spent a month at the orphanage supervising Phase I and assisting in building a three-story building of extra living quarters and classrooms in anticipation of getting electricity and clean water as the orphanage will be able to double the number of orphans they can accommodate. 

Rotarian Colleen Micele traveled to Kenya in August 2010 with 13 other people, to provide clinical care, treating such diseases as malaria, typhoid, and brucellosis, not seen in the United States.

To learn more about our partnership, please visit NLCC’s website.