Always on
This project successfully funded on 25th May 2026, you can still support them with a donation.
Water for Disabled People & Local Communities
Kenya
Aim
Help provide safe, sustainable water for disabled people, their families and the wider Ngulu community in rural Kenya.
WATER IS FLOWING IN NGULU
Update: 27 September 2026
We are delighted to share that, on Saturday 26 September 2026, water flowed from the Ngulu borehole for the first time, powered by solar energy.
This is a major milestone for the Fursa community in Makueni County, rural Kenya. The borehole was drilled in 2024 on land donated by Nzembi Musuvuli, a disabled Fursa member. After water testing, permissions and the transfer of the land to the Kibwezi Fursa PDW’s Empowerment CBO, the solar-powered installation has now been completed.
The work has been made possible through Crowdfunder donations, sales of crafts made by Fursa members, supporters’ contributions and assistance from Davis & Shirtliff.
Water from the borehole is currently suitable for domestic use. Nzembi, who lives nearby, will manage the site and help ensure that water is distributed fairly within the community.
The next stage: making the water safer and more secure
Although the pump is now working, the project is not finished. Continued donations will help us to:
- install filtration so the water can be made safe to drink;
- add water-storage tanks;
- improve security around the site and equipment;
- support a sustainable water source for homes, small-scale agriculture and local enterprise.
Nzembi is already an experienced local entrepreneur, growing and selling fruit and vegetables. In time, she hopes to use the secured site to grow beans and hanging fruit trees, strengthening both household income and the project’s long-term sustainability.
Thank you to everyone who helped turn underground water into a working, solar-powered community resource. Your continued support can help make it safe, secure and lasting.
I founded ResponsABLE Assistance in 2005, a voluntary not-for-profit organisation dedicated to supporting disabled people facing difficult circumstances around the world.
Since 2019, we have worked in partnership with disabled community members in Makueni County, Kenya, through our Fursa initiative. "Fursa" means "opportunity" in Swahili. The initiative supports disabled people and their families to build sustainable livelihoods, independence, and dignity within their own communities.
Makueni County is a largely rural region affected by deep poverty, low literacy levels, and limited public welfare. In 2022, the Kenyan government declared the area a disaster zone due to severe and ongoing drought. For disabled people in particular, access to water is often exhausting and unsafe.
In 2024, with initial funding secured, a borehole was successfully drilled in Ngulu on land generously donated by Nzembi Musuvuli, a disabled member of the Fursa community.
Photo by Josemarie Nyagah, Makueni County, 2024
Nzembi and her family have long faced the daily challenge of accessing clean water.
Believing in a better future for her community, Nzembi donated part of her own land so a borehole could be drilled there.
From installation to lasting access to water
When this campaign began, the wider cost of completing the full water system was estimated at approximately £50,000. This long-term ambition included solar pumping, filtration, storage, safe drinking-water distribution and protective infrastructure.
A later formal quotation from Davis & Shirtliff in Kenya allowed the Fursa community to focus first on the immediate priority: installing the solar-powered pump system.
Thanks to Crowdfunder donations, sales of crafts made by Fursa members, supporters’ contributions and assistance from Davis & Shirtliff, that installation has now been completed.
On 26 September 2026, water flowed from the Ngulu borehole for the first time, powered by sunlight.
The water is currently suitable for domestic use. The next stages are to install filtration so it can be made safe to drink, add storage tanks, and improve security around the site and equipment. These steps will help ensure that this new water source is safe, reliable and sustainable for disabled people, their families and the wider community.
The borehole was drilled.
The solar-powered pump is now working.
Now we are building a secure, lasting water resource for Ngulu.
Hear directly from Nzembi, who donated the land for the borehole, and Francis, chairman of the Fursa Disability umbrella organisation:
What continued support will fund
The solar-powered borehole pump is now installed and operating. Continued donations will support the next practical stages of the project:
1) Water filtration and purification. The water is currently suitable for domestic use. Filtration will help make it safe for drinking.
2) Water storage. Storage tanks will make water more reliably available for disabled people, their families and the wider Ngulu community.
3) Site security and protection. Improving the security of the borehole, solar equipment and surrounding site will help protect this community resource for the long term.
4) Sustainable local use. Reliable water can support homes, small-scale agriculture and local enterprise. Nzembi, who manages the site, plans to develop fruit trees and beans around the completed security fencing.
How the project will move forward
The project will continue in practical stages.
Completed: the borehole was drilled, permissions and community ownership were secured, and the solar-powered pumping system was installed. On 26 September 2026, water flowed from the borehole for the first time.
Next: filtration, water storage and site security.
Donations made through this page will support these next stages, helping turn a working borehole into a safe, secure and sustainable water source for the community.
The impact
A working local water source can reduce the difficult and often unsafe journeys that disabled people and their families face to collect water.
It can support domestic use, small-scale agriculture and local enterprise, while strengthening resilience in a drought-affected rural area.
For disabled people and their families, access to water is not only about survival. It is about dignity, health, independence and opportunity.
Every contribution, large or small, can help make this water source safe, secure and lasting.
You can watch a short film about the Fursa project, made from footage filmed in Kenya and the UK in 2024, here:
Thank you for helping turn opportunity into lasting change.
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made