Turkish aid agency digs borehole in Kenyan village among worst affected by drought

By Andrew Wasike

NAIROBI, Kenya (AA) - Turkey’s state-run aid agency, along with partners, completed a borehole project, complete with a 50,000-liter (13,000-gallon) capacity elevated tower tank and a solar pump in Wajir County.

The Kenyan government said 2.1 million residents in 12 counties, including Wajir County, are starving because of the drought that has rocked the East African country.

The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA), in partnership with the Adan Keynan Foundation (TAKF), said the project is set to boost livelihood opportunities for the community, especially women, in an area that has been the worst hit by drought in northern Kenya.

The borehole comes with a complete installation of drip irrigation systems on a 7-acre farmland in the Eldas area.

“The irrigated land is expected to enhance the agricultural productivity and food security of 60 women (2 women groups) in Eldas, who are engaged in small-scale farming,” according to a statement by TIKA. “The newly drilled and solar equipped borehole is expected to provide the much-needed resource – water, to residents of Eldas community for their domestic use.”

- TIKA renovates library in Kenyan slum

TIKA also announced that it renovated a school library in Kibera in Nairobi, which is the largest slum in the capital and ranked as the largest urban slum in Africa.

‘I am happy to be here at the opening ceremony of this critical investment, which encourages the cultivation of a reading and research culture for the young, brilliant minds and future of this country,” TIKA’s coordinator in the capital of Nairobi, Eyup Yavuz Umutlu, said at the refurbished Kibera Secondary School Library. “We equipped this library not just as a library, but also as a modern classroom with a projector, computers and printers. So, this place can be used also as a modern classroom with the help of some digital materials, which will support students in widening their vision.”

Also present was Turkish Ambassador to Kenya Ahmet Cemil Miroglu.

TIKA has been operating in Kenya since 2012, implementing projects in collaboration with public institutions and NGOs in health, education, agriculture, sustainable livelihoods, capacity building as well as water, sanitation and hygiene projects.