Daryl and Mary Jo Oft at Lake Victoria

One trip to Kenya turned into many others, and Living Waters Intl. was born, with the Ofts in the lead to bring first potable water and now food to the people of the villages on Rusinga Island in Lake Victoria in Kenya. “It was my understanding that they had not had fresh water for more than three years because the water system they had in place was no longer functional – all of the water technicians had died of AIDS,” says Oft. “The population of Rusinga has a 42% HIV/AIDS rate and an 80% orphan rate.”

Through a lot of work, donated funds and volunteer effort, Oft and a representative from Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) were able to get a new water system up and running. The community wanted to name the water project after the Ofts and everyone who had helped with the project, but Daryl convinced them to name it Living Waters. That phase only provided for a few villages, and so the Ofts continued to work to bring more water to the region.

In the last two years, they have refurbished the water infrastructure, including repairing the wind-operated water pumping system and renching and laying over one-half mile of galvanized 2-inch water line to bring water directly into the village center. Four water tanks were purchased and installed while other tanks were refurbished, providing almost 13,000 gallons of stored water capacity. Water valves were replaced and a water intake system was designed, built and installed to bring water directly out of Lake Victoria.

But their work is not done yet. As this piece is written, Daryl is on his way to Kenya to begin building a feeding center for the hundreds of orphans on the island. “We weren’t planning to go back until next February, but we got a sizable donation from a donor who said, ‘Take this and go back tomorrow,’” says Oft. “If we wait until February, some of those children will die. Now we’re providing 48 children one meal a day, five days a week.” Once completed, the center will provide two meals a day daily to 200 children and approximately 15 widows who are unable to care for themselves.