American Brings Water to Kenya

Joyce Tannian founded Water is Life, a nonprofit dedicated to bringing sustainable water sources to Kenya. Her sister is Atlantan Monica Tannian, president and CEO of Milk Money Consulting Inc.

Womenetics: How did you get involved in Kenya?
Joyce Tannian: I had a very good Kenyan friend who invited me to come and visit in 2003. So I was in Kenya for a few weeks in June/July of 2003 and saw a lot.

I was especially impacted by meeting some bright kids who were our guides at a place called Lake Baringo, members of the local Njemps tribe. They took us in a boat around the island and spoke great English, knew so much about plants, fish and animals, and geology. We paid them a decent amount, which they shared among themselves.

The next day when we were leaving the island, we met one of our guides along the road and offered him a ride. We asked where he was going. He said he was off to school to pay off his school fees so he could go back to school. He said the night before when he and his family sat and discussed how to use the money we had given him – probably he got $15 – they said he should use it to go back to school. I thought – $15! That’s the difference between school and no school?

When I got back to United States, I started paying more attention to the amount I would drop every day for odds and ends – let’s say, coffee. I started putting that money aside and really had it in my heart to help in Kenya somehow. I found an organization that was coordinating sponsorships for girls for their education and called up to find out how I could become a sponsor. That’s how I started sponsoring Soila, who at the time was in second grade.

Womenetics: Were you always looking for a cause or to help the world?
Tannian: I always enjoyed doing volunteer work. I believe that talents are given to us to be shared, and that everyone can serve someone else – all gifts are giveable – whether it’s the gift of listening, music, computer skills, humor, fashion sense. Two hands can do so much, especially when joined with people with a common purpose. I also realized that helping other people was good to do for so many reasons – keeping busy and working to help others helps put your own problems in perspective

I especially started doing more volunteer work after Sept. 11, when I was living in New York City. I started volunteering with The River Fund. They’re a nonprofit based in Queens that cares for so many people, helping them with food and clothing, visiting the sick, providing sandwiches, groceries, and warm clothes during tough seasons. I learned that simple things like putting extra whipped cream on someone’s hot chocolate, complimenting them on their nail polish, taking time to chat while you’re handing out shopping bags for people to collect their food, really make a difference.

Womenetics: Why did you decide to start your own nonprofit rather than join another one?
Tannian: In 2006 I went to Kenya to work as a volunteer. In my work in helping to manage a girls’ sponsorship program I observed a serious lack of even the most basic resources, like water, in so many areas and that there were few organizations visible on the ground trying to work on development. Month after month of drought, dying livestock, suffering, and you just ask yourself can't something be done here? Isn't some of this avoidable? Who's working on this? Shouldn't we try?

I really believed then and believe now that anything is possible especially when it's done with the heart of helping others and working with them to find solutions to problems they've identified. How great is it when people can look at what they've accomplished for themselves and know they've contributed to a better life for many.

Organizing projects and mobilizing resources was not something new to me from my work as a freelance singer and fund-raising for projects I supported. Why couldn't I use these skills to help people get clean water close to their communities and help women have a chance for a different kind of life? Were they destined to break their backs carrying water eight hours a day?

I believed that if we told the story people would be moved to want to help. We raised $50,000 for our first well, and then the local area member of parliament, Judah Katoo Ole Metito, authorized the local Constituency Development Fund to pay to build the water storage tank worth approximately $25,000.