Feliste and Tabitha, both choir members at the Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Mission in Kavisuni Village, Kenya, are grateful for how close the borehole is to the church and for the positive changes it has brought to their lives.
Kenya
Across the rural dioceses of Kitui, Malindi and Ngong, hundreds of thousands of families begin each day with a single, exhausting question: Where will we find water? Most depend on distant rivers, salty rock catchments and hand-dug pits in dry riverbeds, sources they share with animals and that make their children sick. The burden falls hardest on women and girls, who spend hours each day hauling heavy containers instead of learning, working or resting. This tragic cycle quietly steals a family’s health, time and hope.
But all that can change with your help! In collaboration with our trusted partner, Good Samaritan Water Sanitation Services, Cross Catholic Outreach wants to build 45 solar-powered water points to bring clean, safe water to 264,826 people. Each well you help provide will be drilled deeply to access abundant clean water, tested for purity, and handed over to a local water committee to keep it flowing for years to come.
When you give clean water, you honor the image of God in a brother or sister who has waited far too long for this basic necessity. Give today to help bring water and new life to rural Kenya.
Working through local dioceses and parishes, Good Samaritan Water Sanitation Services builds water points that each community owns, operates and sustains through a trained water committee, so the water keeps flowing without interruption.
With each well installed, families receive training in sanitation, hygiene and agriculture, helping them turn clean water into an asset that supports them in every aspect of life. The goal is to free communities from the daily search for water and empower them to build a stronger, more hopeful future for generations to come.
Forty-five solar-powered water points will bring safe, reliable drinking water to 264,826 people across three dioceses, ending the daily search that consumes families’ time and health.
Safe water and hygiene training reduce waterborne illnesses like cholera and typhoid. This protects the youngest and most vulnerable and keeps children healthy enough to stay in school.
Each well is owned and maintained by a local water committee, empowering communities to sustain their own water supply and upholding the God-given dignity of every family served.
As a young teen, Esther already knows exactly who she wants to become. The oldest of three siblings and a lover of storybooks, she dreams of being a lawyer so she can defend “the weak people in society.” Not long ago, a shortage of clean water was holding Esther back from her dream.
At her school in the Diocese of Kitui, students spent hours fetching water instead of sitting in class, and they often got sick from the contaminated sources. For a bright, determined girl like Esther, each time she and her peers were interrupted from their academic studies was a step away from the future she imagined.
But then, through the generosity of donors like you, a solar-powered water point was drilled on the school’s grounds. Now, students no longer need to travel far to fetch water, their health has improved, and the school’s garden is thriving again, giving the children clean, nourishing food to eat. Esther says she even prefers the school’s water to what she gets at home because it tastes better and is so much easier to reach.
Freed from the daily search for water, Esther can learn, grow and pursue her dream of standing up for others.
“I want to say thank you very much for drilling the borehole,” she said. “God bless you all.”
Your generosity protects health, restores time and safeguards the God-given dignity of young people like Esther, giving them the chance to build the future our Lord surely intends for them.
In much of rural Kenya, the search for water shapes every hour of the day. According to the CIA World Factbook, more than 17 million Kenyans lack access to clean water, and in the communities this campaign serves, families depend on rock catchments, distant rivers and hand-dug pits in dry riverbeds. When those sources run dry, the walk grows longer still, sometimes four miles or more each way. The water families find is often salty, cloudy and shared with animals, and the illnesses that follow — including diarrhea, cholera and typhoid — strike children and the elderly hardest.
The burden on the women and girls responsible for collecting this water is also extreme. During a single trip, a woman or child may carry dozens of liters home on her back or by donkey. Girls who spend their mornings searching for water arrive at school late and exhausted, if they arrive at all. Mothers lose the time they need to farm, cook and care for their families.
We believe that God intends for his children to thrive. With your help, clean water can reach families in desperate need, changing the outlook of entire communities for generations to come.
Father Leo picks corn in the thriving maize field, watered by a Cross Catholic Outreach borehole built with the help of U.S. Catholics in Kamuwongo Parish, Kenya.
Bless Remote Communities With Brighter Futures
Imagine the moment clean water first flows into a village that has waited generations for it: children laugh, mothers weep with joy, and an entire community begins to discover aspects of life they have never had time to explore before. You can make these beautiful moments a reality. Your gift to this campaign builds solar-powered wells that carry health and hope to families in Kitui, Malindi and Ngong. Every gift brings that day of celebration closer. Please join us in this mission to bring clean water to God’s precious children.
Use it for reflections and notes to grow in your spiritual life. You’ll also receive a prayer request form to mail back so that we can pray for your needs. In effect, this creates a spiritual bridge to connect you to our sisters and brothers in Christ in the developing world!
Cross Mission Partners also receive a semiannual Mission Update with news, insights and information about the good work and accomplishments made possible by your support.
Every dollar helps us bless the least of our brothers and sisters throughout Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Mexico & Central America and South America.
Thank You for Your Special Commitment to Serving the Poor!
The Cross Catholic Outreach Christmas Catalog makes it fun and easy to extend the joy of Christmas to the poor. Instead of being filled with retail items, the catalog contains meaningful gifts for some of the world’s most impoverished families. Some gifts are lifesaving items such as Food, while others are large projects such as Safe Homes or Clean Water. All gifts are sent on your behalf to grateful families in developing countries.
It’s easy to shop through the Cross Catholic Outreach Christmas Catalog. Simply browse through the categories and choose an item within your budget and close to your heart, such as Box of Joy or Catholic School Scholarships for children. Select and sponsor one or more of these gifts, and you’ll make a meaningful impact on the life of a needy child or family overseas. It’s that simple!
Blessing the poor happens year-round. Some gifts in our Christmas Catalog are sourced locally, so there is no need to worry about international shipping. For items that require shipping, Cross Catholic Outreach works with partners in every country we serve to ensure Christmas Catalog gifts are delivered in a timely fashion.
Yes! Making a gift in honor of a friend or family member is a fun and easy way to share Christmas joy. Once you complete the checkout process, let them know by sending a printed certificate or e-Card.
Donations from this campaign will be used to cover any expenditures for this project incurred through June 30, 2027, the close of our ministry’s fiscal year. In the event that more funds are raised than needed to fully fund the project, the excess funds, if any, will be used to meet the most urgent needs of the ministry.
