Environmental Community Assistance Group (ECAG) began in 1995. It is a group of WORLDWIDE EVANGELICAL REDEEMED GOSPEL CHURCH members who came together to start tree nurseries to plant wood-fuel trees but now our main focus is water.
The only remaining batch of tropical forest in Kenya, which once used to stretch to Zaire (the Democratic Republic of the Congo), was becoming rapidly harvested. This forest used to be the only source of firewood, and many people did not have trees planted on their farms. We began building tree nurseries to sell and donate trees to farmers and other group members to plant. This project has helped the some of the forest regrow and now many people have trees on their farms for firewood. In addition, women and children are safer because before they were walking over 35 kilometers with heavy loads of firewood on their heads from the forest. Sometimes there were cases of rape in the forest, and much precious time was being used by the children to look for firewood at the expense of their education. At this point, our target has not yet been met because the demand for tree seedlings is still very high even many kilometers away from our village of Sichirayi. Also, there are still thousands of acres of bare forest areas that have not been replanted.
The issue of water came slowly to the forefront as we began to build tree nurseries which needed water. In 1996, the country of Norway sponsored one dug well in our village which we constructed ourselves. This well was used to provide water for a tree nursery. Since that time, water has become a main focus of our organization. We have managed to dig additional wells to provide water for more families. But, because we lack access to appropriate technical expertise and resources, these wells are often of poor workmanship and, many times, constructed in locations with little access to water. Currently, we have dug over fifteen wells and constructed five pumps. Five of these wells do not go dry during the dry season.
