More Than Water: Lions Transform Bukembe
Bukembe is a community in Bungoma, western Kenya – far from the city that once called me away. When I left, it was the place I was from. When I came back – after corporate life, after ten businesses that failed, after everything – it became the place I was for.
My mother had already spent decades answering the same question I came home carrying: what does it actually take to change a place? My mother ran a children centre in the community, and I had come to help her.
One of the first things I had to face was the water.
Families walked more than five kilometres to fetch water. Children were constantly falling ill with waterborne diseases. It was a burden the community carried every single day – and could not lift alone.
Then a Lion in Chicago made a phone call.
Lion Raj Rajaram reached out to PCC Rajinder Sembi – a Lion he had never met – and described what was happening in Bukembe. That call set off a chain that crossed continents. Through the DCG program, BRHOB Lions Club directed funds to the Wema Children’s Centre: a US$3,000 grant that brought clean water to our children and trained our community to operate and maintain the system themselves. No dependency. No waiting. A community that owns its own solution.
That grant did something beyond fixing a water problem.
It brought the Wema community together around a new belief: that change is possible, and we can be the ones to drive it. The community came together and formed what is today the Lions Club of Bungoma – with me as its Charter President. A community that had received Lions generosity chose to become Lions themselves.
A subsequent LCIF water grant of $78,000 – with BRHOB Lions contributing $6,000 and EWB-USA Chicagoland contributing $19,000 – extended clean water access across the wider Bukembe community, reaching hundreds of families who had lived with this problem their entire lives.
But BRHOB Lions Club did not stop with water.
When they saw that children at the Centre needed sustainable food, they contributed to establish the Sri Vasudevan Farm – a working farm that now grows food for the children of Wema. When post-harvest losses and food storage challenges threatened what the farm produced, Lions saw the need clearly and helped establish the Wema Food Pantry. When vegetables were needed year-round for the children, they contributed towards a greenhouse where fresh produce is grown on site.
At every turn, a need emerged. At every turn, Lions showed up.
Strathmore University recently documented this journey on film. What they captured is not just my story. It is proof of what becomes possible when a community refuses to stand still – and when Lions move with them.
I am Lion Liz Jumah, Charter President, Lions Club of Bungoma and the Executive Director of Wema BDO. I am a daughter of Bukembe. And because of you – because Lions showed up when we needed you most – this community is becoming something we are all proud of together.
To learn more: www.wemabdo.org
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3BnbLi4FLQ
リンクをコピーする
ホームページに戻る