BETH KOIGI
The climate change activist bringing clean and safe drinking water to families
Kaijado, kenya
Beth is a leading expert on water filtration in Kenya, dedicated to making sure every Kenyan family has clean, safe drinking water, every single day.
Beth comes from a village where clean drinking water didn’t exist. Her hometown has a stream running through it, but with almost year-round droughts it’s usually dried up. When there is water, frequent erosion and contamination from livestock mean the water is highly polluted. If you wash clothes in it they’ll turn brown. But Beth's family and friends still used to drink and wash in this dirty water - when it was available - unless they had the time to walk long distances to fetch water from a cleaner source.
The nearest big town to Beth sold water filters at $62 USD which was impossible for anyone in her village to buy. As a result, people were constantly contracting amoeba viruses which live in their stomachs causing extreme abdominal pain and diarrhoea. The only way to get rid of them is through antibiotics, which were unaffordable for the locals. Beth herself has had amoeba viruses so many times she’s lost count.
While Beth was at university studying Community Development, she led a team of students to develop a water filtering device made from low cost, locally available materials such as a peanut butter jar and charcoal. Through rigorous testing, Beth discovered that her filter was surprisingly robust and successful at removing amoebas from the local water supply.
After this, Beth decided to bring clean, safe water to the people of Kenya, starting with her own village. As word of Beth's water filters spread, she began getting contacted from members of nearby villages and demand began to grow exponentially for her filters.
“Knowing the serious health issues rural Kenyan communities face, I can’t sit back and let them go without clean water any longer!”
— BETH
Beth continues to improve her technology through research and development, and has discovered cheaper and more efficient ways to make long-lasting, quality water filters, using local suppliers and locally sourced materials.
More recently, Beth has been developing air to water solutions for drought prone areas in Kenya that frequently do not have any water available to filter. Her technology harvests clean, safe water from the atmosphere, providing a game changing solution to communities lacking water for drinking and growing food.
Beth has won local and international awards for her innovative water solutions and has already provided clean drinking water to more than 30,000 Kenyans.
Make a donation for Beth to put where it’s needed most or check out her current projects below.
Contact jo@justpeoples.org to learn more about how you can support Beth’s work.