Motioning over to the lush foothills glimmering in the distance, Kokomiano explained that, while a beautiful backdrop for many, these mountains only served as painful memories of the long journeys to find water under the heat of the sun. It wasn’t until he was fifty years old, when TSP drilled the Lengoloo well in his community, that he claims his life changed forever.

Much like the others in his area, his family would trek over four hours into the mountains to find water. It was a luxury when that water was clean. Lugging 20 liters of water through the hills home was time-consuming, physically draining, and so exhausting that it would leave them often unable to complete the rest of their work or tasks for days after. For Kokomiano, when he wasn’t in charge of getting water, he would walk from village to village selling charcoal. He strongly disliked his job, and it wasn’t generating enough income to support his family. His three daughters were forced to drop out of school and were married young due to the scarcity of resources in his family.

After implementing the Lengoloo well, Kokomiano attended a TSP workshop and left with the idea that would change the trajectory of his life and his family’s well-being. He was going to start a garden with the now plentiful, safe water just meters from his house. He began work in early January and hasn’t looked back since.

Kokomiano grows everything from kale and spinach to Irish potatoes and sweet potatoes. He first supplies the vegetables to his whole village and then takes the rest to sell in the center of Wamba and other local markets. Being self-employed and providing resources for his local village mates is truly a dream come true for Kokomiano. Additionally, he’s been able to generate enough income to send all three of his sons back to school, and there is food on his table every night. When they’re not in school, his two oldest sons, Sandro and Widum, work alongside their father, soaking up his guidance and advice.

Of course, Kokomiano still faces many challenges maintaining his garden. After elephants trampled his garden the first time, munching on some of his delicious sweet potatoes, he spent over a month building a thorn fence. In a constant battle with elephants, he hopes to implement iron sheets to protect his garden fully. After the new fence, he can ideally expand his garden to grow even more vegetables and put in a tank to store water for the crops. Kokomiano says that he treats the garden like another child and has planned out ideas for years in advance.

Kokomiano could not have been more grateful to TSP for drilling Lengoloo well in his community. He believes that if it were not for TSP, his family and community would still languish in abject poverty, but today they have a new story. With teary eyes, Kokomiano could not stop saying, “Ashe Oleng, Ashe Oleng, The Samburu Project.”