In developed countries like Canada, there is no need to walk two to three kilometres to fetch water, mostly contaminated, in large buckets, basins and Jerry cans carried on one’s head. In developing countries, including Kenya - Beatrice Osome’s country of origin – this is an unfortunate reality, especially in rural areas. As there is often no running water in the home or compound, women and children spend several hours a day walking long distances, sometimes in harsh weather, to supply their households with much-needed but mostly dirty water from unsanitary sources.
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The mission of the Bea Osome Clean Water Project is twofold: saving lives and preventing water-borne diseases such as Typhoid, Cholera, and Dysentery; and drastically reducing the time school-age children spend fetching water – time
that should be spent learning in the classroom. This is why since 2006, the Project has funded the construction of hand-dug wells on school grounds, where students, school staff and the neighbouring communities can conveniently access clean water.

School officials or community leaders requesting wells submit proposals to Bea for consideration. Once proposals have been approved, the wells are dug by hand using locally available materials, equipment and labour. Once the wells are completed, the users are trained to properly maintain them. Each well costs $5,000 if operated with a manual pump and $6,000 if equipped with an electrical pump.

As of 2018, funds raised by Bea Osome, with the support of her church family and friends, as well as the Rotary Club of West Ottawa, have financed the construction of fourteen wells in Western Kenya.

Bea and Benson Osome continue to raise funds for their clean water projects through donations from friends as well as by making presentations to individuals, small groups and organizations. She also holds an annual fundraising BBQ at her home in honour of her late daughter, Charity, who always encouraged and supported her efforts to help disadvantaged communities in rural Western Kenya.  

If you would like to contribute, please email Bea at ​[email protected]