Lene Maria for Rent Vann Samburu District, KENYA

Masikita Solar-Powered Water System Addition
Funded by: Lene Maria for Rent Vann Samburu District, KENYA
THE PROJECT
This project will improve access to clean water to benefit
the permanent and semi-permanent residents of
Masikita and the surrounding communities by improving
the ability to store water and increasing the number of
water access points through the following:
•  Repair a water storage tank.
•  Install a new community standpipe •  Install a new water trough for livestock and wildlife on
the east side of Masikita.
•  Heighten the walls of the existing water trough THE NEED
Access to safe water and sanitation in Kenya is limited,
and over 15 million people – including more than half the
rural population – are without access to safe water or
sanitation facilities inhibiting health, development, food
security, and women’s empowerment.
THE PARTNERSHIP
Established in 2004, the mission of Milgis Trust is to
sustain the wildlife, habitat and pastoral peoples’ way of
life in the Samburu region of northern Kenya. Voss
Foundation and Milgis Trust have been working together
for over five years. Since 2008, we implemented 9 solarpowered water projects, including Masikita, that provide
water to 10 communities via 32 water access points.
Milgis Trust manages project implementation,
monitoring, and evaluation.
www.vossfoundation.org
FUNDED BY: Lene Maria for Rent Vann
Lene Maria for Rent Vann, (Norwegian for “clean
water”), is a global grassroots initiative to honor
the memory of Lene Maria Bergum, who was
killed in the shooting attack on Utøya, Norway in
July 2011. Her family chose to build a water
project in Sub-Saharan Africa with Voss
Foundation in Lene Maria’s name. They felt this
was the way she would want to be remembered. The Bergum family reached out to their local
community, receiving unprecedented public
support, which enabled them to fund their first
project, Masikita. Lene Maria for Rent Vann’s
grassroots initiative expanded immensely, and
they are now a registered organization in Norway.
The Masikita rehabilitation and addition is the sixth
Lene Maria for Rent Vann project with Voss
Foundation across Sub-Saharan Africa, and their
fourth in Kenya’s Samburu district. Since 2011,
the campaign has funded 4 sanitation facilities and
9 water projects providing water via 17 water
access points projects to communities in Kenya,
Liberia, and Uganda.
The community standpipe in Masikita.
According to Helen Douglas-Dufresne, Milgis
Trust’s Founder, “when the Bergums visited
last year, the community asked them to fix the
old main tank, and to join it into our solar
system, basically to have more storage for
cloudy days. They asked if we could make
some changes, like building up the walls of
the round trough into a tank. They also
requested a second trough and a new
standpipe for the community on the east side
to help reduce some pressure (and wear and
tear) on the original infrastructure, which will
h o p e f u l l y m a k e L a z a ro , [ t h e Wa t e r
Coordinator’s], job easier too!”
BUDGET SUMMARY
www.vossfoundation.org