A routine trip to Thugunui

ak. After a hectic morning at the hospital, we made a routine trip to Thugunui, approximately 30 minutes by car up the mountain, to check up on the water station. Thugunui's water station was completed last year at this time, a joint venture between the RVH and Austrian NGO Schilling for Schilling. As always, the villagers welcomed us with open arms and the school children flocked to my flashing camera for a chance to see a photo of themselves. Inhabited by over 30,000 people spread across a distance of 25km, the greater region of Thugunui is nestled into a quaint valley atop a mountain range bordering the Rift Valley and Central provinces of Kenya. Isolated from electricity or running water, it has an old-fashioned, nostalgic charm about it, especially when compared to the hustle and bustle of Nakuru.

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Another Dulcimer concert on 2700 m

Today we visited the water station in Thugunui on 2700 m where all school children gathered together to attend another concert of Swiss dulcimer player Nicolas Senn who is currently staying in Kenya together with his mother. The water station was opened on November 15th 2007 together with the Austrian help organization "Schilling für Schilling" and allows the whole community to have fresh drinking water the whole year round ... and even free of charge! The children were very receptive and happy. The adults were also listening and all had a good time. At the end the community thanked Mama Matata and the musician. Nicolas took the opportunity to walk down to the Rhein-Valley Hospital ground on 2000 m and realized how much effort it took for the locals in the mountain village to bring the water up the mountain before the water project was established.

This old men sponsored the land for establishing the water station.