Carrying a tea kettle, Cheru Lotuliapus, 5, walks with other children to dig for water in a dry riverbed in West Pokot, Kenya. Sometimes it takes them three or more hours.

“It is so hard for Cheru to go get water. At times she cries that she can’t," says her mother, Monica.  “It seems too hard, but we have to get water at home." 

Monica is always thinking about water.

Does she have enough for tea? If she scrubs her clothing will there be water for cooking and to drink for the evening? Has she kept enough for the goats?

Monica’s children are young and they can’t carry enough water to meet the family’s daily need, so Monica straps her six-month-old son, Haron, on her back and walks to and from the waterhole at least two times a day, sometimes three.

“My prayer is that [in Cheru’s life] she is able to get water nearby without the same struggle we have now,” says Monica.   

©2016 World Vision, Jon Warren

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