Metemora Water Tank

Chris Render, former Band Director at Metamora High School, came to Kenya with us in June 2016 to celebrate the Ngaru Primary water project. In addition to bringing back a tribal style African drum to show to his students, he brought back with him a passion to help support the kids in Kenya. With his fresh, new excitement, he shared openly about the difference access to clean water could make. Among those who heard about Chris’ newfound passion were his music students. On the same wavelength as Chris, the students banded together and began brainstorming what they could do to help.

Band director Chris Render plays his french horn for Kenyan students.

Throughout the course of the next school year, Chris and his students were extra busy. In addition to the regular extracurricular time commitment involved with being a band student, the kids had decided to organize several different fundraisers. Among the fundraisers were hosting two concerts where they took donations, selling wrist bracelets and an additional meal donation concert.

By the end of the year, the students had raised several thousand dollars - their many extra hours paying off. However, the funds weren’t quite enough to push the water tank through to the final phases. Jenni, CDK director, had asked JJ, the CDK Kenya director what amount was needed to complete construction. The total was $5,000. Knowing that CDK didn’t have the money, Jenni decided there was only one thing she could do. She put the request on her prayer wall.

If you have been to the CDK office in El Paso, Illinois, you may have seen the prayer wall in Jenni’s office. It is an entire wall covered in black chalkboard paint where Jenni uses chalk to write down (or illustrate) the organization’s prayer requests. In this case, what went up on the prayer was pretty simple: “$2,500 Kagumo Well” - the amount needed to move to the next step of construction.

After a couple of weeks after putting up the request, Jenni went to lunch with a friend. As they were about to part ways, the friend asked what the biggest need in CDK was. Jenni shared about the need for the Metamora-sponsored tank, which required $2,500 to complete the next phase and a total of $5,000 to finish. After a brief pause, the friend looked at Jenni and she said she would drop off a check - for $5,000 - the next day!

Thanks to an inspired band director, dedicated music students, a generous friend and the power of prayer, what was one of our biggest tanks at the time had the funds to reach completion. This tank enabled almost 1,000 staff members and students to have clean water! (The exact number at the time was 912).

Below, you can scroll through the pictures to look at some of the students who now have access to clean water.