The water purification system installed in a girls’ primary school of 1,048 children in Kenya has reached its destination and has been fully operational since 29 January 2025.

The school is located at the Comboni mission in the village of Nakwameki, about 700 km from Nairobi, in the Rift Valley Province, in the north-western part of Kenya. Now both the school and the families of the students have potable drinking water. 

This charitable project, promoted and coordinated by the Delegation of Rome and Vatican City of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George, was created by the Institute for Membrane Technology (ITM) of the Italian National Research Council (CNR).  The CNR belongs to the Department of Chemical Sciences and Materials Technologies, based in Rende in the Province of Cosenza, on the campus of the University of Calabria. It is a highly innovative solution, as it is based on nanotechnologies, with a reverse osmosis filter, integrated with a solar panel for electricity. The photo above shows the first release of drinking water from the fully functioning purification plant.

We first reported on this project in March 2024.  See:

https://constantinianorder.us/a-water-purification-plant-for-kenya-has-been-developed-by-the-italian-national-research-council-on-the-initiative-of-the-constantinian-orders-rome-and-vatican-city-delegation/ 

The project was promoted and followed in all the various and complex steps by the Liaison for Charitable Activities of the Delegation of Rome and Vatican City, Prof. Eng. Luca Mazzola, Knight of Merit, in about a year of work, from construction to transportation to installation.

The plant, which left the Institute for Membrane Technology (ITM) of the CNR, was loaded onto a vessel in Genoa for shipping. After a journey lasting some 3 months, having to circumnavigate Africa following the geopolitical instability in the Red Sea and the high risks of passing through the Suez Strait and the Bab al-Mandab Strait, it arrived in Mombasa in November 2024. Then, once the customs clearance procedures were completed, the plant was transferred to the headquarters of the Comboni Missionaries in Nairobi. From there, the Comboni Missionaries brought the plant to the village of Nakwameki.

The system was installed at the school by Friar Dario Laurencig, a Comboni missionary in the village of Nakwameki. This also required the installation of a photovoltaic panel on the roof of the school to ensure electricity.

Once the installation was completed, Friar Dario Laurencig officially handed the system over to the school principal on January 30, 2025 and it is now fully operational for the 1,048 girls who attend the school.

In Kenya, as in other desert areas of Africa, the population is often forced to walk for 3-4 hours every day, covering up to 10 kilometers, in search of water. Very often the water is not drinkable and carries diseases such as malaria, cholera, and typhoid fever, which are often fatal. One of the main causes of death of newborns and children, in addition to malnutrition, is precisely the lack of water or the use of contaminated water, which initially compromises their state of health. Only the strongest and those who develop antibodies to diseases first and best, manage to survive, with the result that infant mortality is very high. The water purification plant, therefore, has a great value, not specifically economic, but “human” and “social” for that population. Drinking water is precious not only for the school but also because it allows girls and young women to bring drinking water into their homes, thus helping their families and especially their younger siblings.

The Delegation of Rome and Vatican City of the Constantinian Order thanks all those who worked to make this initiative a reality, especially:

  • The Comboni Missionaries, for their logistical and operational availability in receiving the system and installing it: Father Angelo Giorgetti, general treasurer; Father Maciej Zielinski Mikolaj, treasurer for Kenya; and Brother Dario Laurencig, missionary in the village of Nakwameki.
  • The Institute for Membrane Technology (ITM) of the CNR which donated the system. Special thanks, for the professionalism and sensitivity shown, to the Director of the Institute, Dr. Alberto Figoli; to the researcher Dr. Alessandra Criscuoli; and to the technician Roberto Jerace.  They conceived, designed, built and tested the system and also provided an instruction guide in several languages ​​for the assembly and use of the system to support Friar Dario Laurencig and the school.
  • Dr. Paola Cocco of 3C Aedificatoria srl ​​for the donation that contributed to the transportation of the system to Kenya.