Sand Dams A sand dam must be located on a seasonal river that has a solid rock base and natural sand in the area.  This makes the Machakos district an opportune place for sand dams.  Joshua Makusia, who grew up in the area, was the creator of this technology.  It really is an amazing thing-a local solution for a local problem.  Because of the requirements of a sand dam, they cannot be replicated everywhere.  This truly is local development.  Utooni is carrying on Joshua's vision wonderfully.  By getting to know Kevin Muneene the new CEO, we developed a strong respect and admiration for him.  UDO has a powerful way of giving ownership and dignity to communities, as they encourage them to help themselves.   When a community is interested in building a sand dam, they contact Utooni and work out collaborative goals.  If the community is willing to commit, a site assessment is done and donors are found.  The community then has to prepare their site by gathering rocks and sand and water if necessary.  Once the site is prepared Utooni will deliver building supplies such as shovels, pans, picks, lumber, and cement.  They dig a trench across the river and build a form for the dam.  Cement and sand (3 parts sand to 1 part cement) are mixed with water by their own hands, with shovels.  This mixture is passed in assembly line on pans, with extreme efficiency and dumped into the form.  They fill it layer by layer, adding large rocks at bottom and smaller rocks as they move up.  These stones are also heaved down an assembly line.  Sometimes weeks of human power are put into these structures.  The dam we helped with had 150 community members (along with 600 school children who stopped by) actively participated in lifting, mixing, cooking, singing, (and much more) to make this possible.  Once the dam is built and the rains come, sand will accumulate upstream of the dam, holding water within it.  It is 60% sand and 40% water.  A mature dam can have up to 2 km of sand built up behind it, making water accessible for a great distance.  You would never guess that you were walking on water, it feels like you're walking on a strip of desert. The sand not only holds water, but acts as a filter, provided clean water to many people.  It also causes the water table around the dam to rise, making farming more successful.   A dam does not just make water accesible, but it greatly reduces the time people have to spend travelling to get water.  It causes things to grow, which provides the community with food.  Excess food provides them with income, which allows them to send their children to school.  In times of drought, the men no longer have to go away looking for work.  Families stay together and the prevalence of AIDS in the community decreases.   The more we saw and learned, the more in awe we became of sand dams and the commitment of the communities who build them.