Walk4Water Raises Money and Awareness

With a short walk on Sunday, Hermosa Beach residents helped raise money to provide clean drinking water to Kenyans who have been living without it.

Hosted by the Samburu Project, the Walk4Water drew about 150 participants who walked a four-mile loop between the piers in Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach.

Volunteer Jen Perkins and a team of five others worked for five months with Hermosa Beach schools and churches to raise money to put toward the construction of water wells in the Samburu District of Kenya.

"The Strand is a great place for this," said Perkins. "People would ask us questions and give us donations as we passed by."

Organizers were impressed with the attendance and estimate that $12,000 was raised, although all pledges haven't been collected yet. Perkins said she is hoping that it was only the first of many annual events that the Samburu Project will host in Hermosa Beach.

The Samburu Project got its start in 2005 when Kristen Kosiniski, then a television executive, traveled solo to Africa with a vague notion of finding a way to help women in need.

"I left my job and booked my plane tickets the same day," said Kosinski. "I picked Kenya because it was a popular place to go. I didn't put that much thought into it, but it changed my life."

After speaking with Kenyan women, she learned that access to clean drinking water was one of their greatest challenges, and the Samburu Project was born.

Instead of providing high tech tools, the Samburu Project works with people in the region to build wells that can be used and maintained by the local communities.

Since 2007, the project has raised more than $400,000 and drilled two dozen wells. On the day of the walk, the Samburu Project had just completed its first initiative with its 25th well. More wells and other services are currently being planned.

"We will be starting a second 25-well initiative," said Kosinski. "But water is just the beginning, eventually we'd like to help with education and women's empowerment."

The simple act of building wells has drastically improved the quality of life for women in the region, Kosinski said. Before the Samburu Project started drilling wells, 12,000 girls were attending school in the area. Now the area supports 36,000 students, thanks to the added sustainability. A similar growth was seen in businesses owned by women, which soared from 50 to 800.

"Its an exponential increase," said Kosinski. "In general, these women would be looking for water — now they can do other things."