Operation Well Worth It Brings Hope of Clean Water and Medical Care to 3,000 People in Angiro, Kenya
Behind those eyes there is a story of a young girl who was beaten every day for being late to school in her small village of Angiro, Kenya. The reason she was late was that she and other young girls in that village had to walk 8 miles each morning to bring home a bucket of water for the family for the day. And that precious bucket of water wasn’t even clean water, it was dirty.Anne Okelo works as a family advocate in the town of West Chester, PA, just 25 miles west of Philadelphia. If you were to meet her on the street you would see a warm smile and sense a kind heart. All of that would be true. But behind those eyes there is a story of a young girl who was beaten every day for being late to school in her small village of Angiro, Kenya. The reason she was late was that she and other young girls in that village had to walk 8 miles each morning to bring home a bucket of water for the family for the day. And that precious bucket of water wasn’t even clean water, it was dirty.
Anne’s story is told in a video that was recently produced to help raise funds to have a well built in her village. You can see the video on both YouTube and Facebook. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGjYUglkQm0. The project has been undertaken by a small group of people from a local church that got to know Anne and want to help her realize her dream of bringing clean water to Angiro, Kenya. Anne said that once the well is built, she hopes to help facilitate having an orphanage built and later a hospital for this village of 3,000 people.
At one point in her youth, Anne was an outcast because she refused to get married at age 14 as was expected of her. She said she observed girls her age getting married and having many children. The husbands had many wives and AIDS was prevalent which often lead to an early death. She did not want that and she believed that her only way out was to focus on her education. Anne did that and she went on to graduate from the University of Nairobi and more recently earned a masters degree from West Chester University.
Local businessman Warren Callaway, a partner in Northeast Specialty Packaging, describes Anne as “an inspiration!” He asked her if she is comfortable with her story being told and Anne’s response was “it is the truth and the truth will set you free.”
If you would like to support Operation Well Worth It financially you can do so by signing up for more information at www.facebook.com/OperationWellWorthIt or emailing the team at angiroproject(at)gmail(dot)com. You can also visit www.OperationWellWorthIt.com. Half of the $35,000 needed has already been raised through generous donations.
