More than two years ago, the Greek-Catholic priest from central Ludus, Valer Sorin Russu, started the project "Kenya - water for the people of the desert", in which, monthly, a tanker with water purchased from the money collected from the population reached the Chalbi desert, in order to replace the need for water in this area, and the gesture proved to prevent, at one point, even conflicts between two tribes in the dry period.

At the beginning, the project "Kenya - water for the people of the desert" aimed at buying, every month, a water tanker, but through the involvement of the missionary priest, Aurelian Herciu, on behalf of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bucharest, which is on the Romanian mission in Hurri Hills, it extended to the construction of water tanks, which are steadily filled, but also to the provision of food and to the granting of school scholarships for students.

Starting with 2019, through the donations collected by the priest Valer Sorin Russu, within the project, around 600 children from ten communities were invited to the Easter festive and Christmas meal, and in this period before Christmas, several churches in Romania joined, so that each family in that area would benefit from food packages.

"We have started the campaign 'A Christmas with smiles in the Chalbi desert' and we are trying to offer this year as much food as possible to the children from the schools 'under our patronage' of the 'Kenya' project. We have received countless requests for food relief, which until now has only happened in certain areas or groups. Today the demand is almost generalized, a sign that there is a food crisis. We are trying, through the 'Kenya' project, to bring a glimmer of hope to the in-need. Join us in this charitable endeavor! Give up a pack of cigarettes, or a beer, or a dessert. If you've earned better financially this year, give to others, too. Life does not mean only to take, but also to give!" was the message of the priest Sorin Valer Russu.

"The Kenya project is based on the three moral principles: responsibility, solidarity and charity, and in this context we carry out the projects in Africa. At first I had a first contact with Kenya through father Aurelian Herciu. Subsequently, we developed the project in Uganda, Chad and Ethiopia. Over time, we realized that resources are limited and then we focused on one direction, remaining on the Kenya project, in which we manage to carry out humanitarian actions. The main object of activity is the acquisition and transport of water to the Chalbi desert, where tribal communities live, where there are serious problems with water. At the request of the priest Herciu, who is a missionary sent by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bucharest, through collaboration with him we started the transport of water. The first project was to take water to communities that depended entirely on these transports. We received countless photos of ailing children and it moved us all. From the water transports we got to the school exchanges. My colleague told me that the most beautiful gift we can give to the children there is to help them get an education. In this sense, we started with a first girl, Sharon Kizito, the first student to whom I opened the door to a better life, through school and education. Today she is a third-year student, first semester and we are glad for every step she takes forward," the priest said.

Surprisingly, it is not the COVID-19 pandemic that has slowed down relief activity in certain areas of the Chalbi desert, but the resurgence of tribal struggles, especially in dry times, when locals have nothing to feed their animals.

"One thing that no one did, in September this year, there was a trip for children who never left the tribe area. There were 54 children from both tribes, from two schools, parents, teachers, taken and brought to Neyra for four days to see a school, a hospital, a bus, what a city looks like, what people look like. (...) Educating these children, their getting civilized is the most important thing. I'm talking about the desert areas in the north. We funded most of this trip so that those kids could see that they could get there. You can educate a child to get to want more. We have these things at our disposal, we are privileged and we do not appreciate them. There, the one who is the beneficiary of a scholarship, drew the winning jackpot, because he will go further, engineer, doctor, other perspectives are opened to him. We think about and act for these better prospects and we can do it," says the priest.

Sorin Valer Russu told us how it all started, how a parish in the Mures County's city of Ludus got to make the difference between life and death in the Chalbi desert. The priest recalled that in 2019, he saw a Facebook post by the Sharing Love Association in the Chalbi desert, in which an appeal was made so that water could be bought and this was his starting point.

By donations made through the Greek Catholic parish in Ludus, 4,200 people in the desert received 12,000 liters of water a month, a small amount keeping in mind that the locals needed the water for the animals as well.

"We thought about the option to make some tanks. We have bought 10,000-litre water tanks and there is a permanent water reserve. We study the water level and, when it goes down, we fill it. That's when we avoid some crises. Where there is a school or a garden, we have also made tanks. Some schools and gardens were built by us, others renovated by us. We also paid teachers' salaries for a few months, so as not to close the schools, because the state stopped the payments. We also bear expenses for hundreds of children who eat a lunch at the school. We do a lot, but not enough and I cannot explain how they can live from the water and the food we carry, but somehow they can handle it," priest Valer Sorin Russu stressed.

We got in touch with father Aurelian Herciu, the missionary priest from the Romanian mission in Hurri Hills, and he told us that he has been working in Kenya since 2014, along with his colleagues from Romania, and that working in such a mission, although it is not simple and easy, provides unthinkable spiritual satisfactions.

"When I was given the opportunity to go on a mission, I said yes, without thinking, to help those who have less than us, to come to the aid of those who need us most. What we are living here is not easy, but I will try to share with those at home two experiences from these years of missionary service,'' said the priest Aurelian Herciu.

''The first parish I've been to, in Sololo, at one point, going to the villages, to one of the branches, an old religion teacher, David, about 65 years old, sick in bed, going through many experiences - he was also the victim of an attack, of a massacre on the Christians of his tribe - he was telling us in his last days that, if they had not been for the missionaries, the locals would not have met Jesus, they would not have known Jesus. Another example - a young woman who finished eighth grade came to ask us at the mission if we could help her continue schooling, high school, because at home she had no possibility, she stayed with her grandmother, she came from a family with many children, without a father, and the mother had no income to help her continue schooling. Then, with the help of the Lord, with the help of those at home, yours, we managed to collect the necessary amount for each year of high school for this young lady. It is almost in the last year of high school and all this with the help of you, the benefactors from home. We thank you all from the bottom of our hearts, for the prayer, for the support and for the sacrifices you make for us, the mission, those in the Kenya project, but also from the other projects we carry out here, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts! We need the help of you, of those at home. Help us to help them, together we can do more for those here. A blessed day! God help!" said father Aurelian Herciu.AGERPRES(RO - author: Dorina Matis, editor: Georgiana Tanasescu; EN - author: Maria Voican, editor: Simona Iacob)