RaHa began as founder saw, first-hand, the difficulty some villages had in finding clean water.
While doing his first assignment –– supervising and managing civil works on a road project –– as an employee of a consulting engineering firm, Otieno Odongo & Partners; RaHa‘s founder, Titi, saw that quarries left behind collected contaminated rainwater –– these queries were the poor villagers’ best source of water.
Titi brought his engineering skills to bear on solving the pressing need for clean water close to home. Rainwater harvesting seemed the ideal solution. He researched the best methods for rainwater harvesting in low-income settlements.
He wanted a system that:
-requires no electricity;
-needs little maintenance;
-would be kept up by village members without need for skilled labor;
-is of greatest value for building cost;
-requires low to no cost to run;
-is long lasting; and,
-is hygienic.
For water storage, his research led him to durable galvanized steel tanks and zincalume steel tanks with a life-span of more than 60 years.
He got filters and other water cleaning components for both rooftop and non-rooftop rainwater harvesting. He got SOLAR toilets as means to reducing rainwater contamination.
Starting out, he helped recondition tanks for a new lease on life for Oiti village in Kajiado Kenya. The tank was not used for several years because it could not contain water. Titi used his own funds to make the tank useable.
A Ms. Grace Mueni nominated the water scarce community of Kavililo in Kitui, Kenya. Water was so scarce there, that when she drove to the community she would fill her car with cans of water to take to the village. Some members of the community had to walk 12 hours for a single round trip to collect water.
Again, Titi used personal money to drill a well or bore hole in Kavililo. But he could not continue to fund all the projects his heart wanted to do.
So Titi created RaHa, RaHa Solutions & Raha Charitable Trust.
His understanding of the need for community participation helped him set up a unique way to involve the community, advertisers, and media. Through creative publicity and shared work, RaHa builds a sense of joint ownership and responsibility.
