They say that life begins at 40, and for middle-aged Agnes Wanja and others in her village of Thiba in Kianyaga, in many ways a much more exciting chapter of life shone forth this year. Suddenly in the darkest of night a myriad homesteads on the hills and valleys of Thiba, twinkled and speckled with electricity for the first time in the history of the village!

The Thiba Micro-hydro-electrical project is a realization of a long-term dream of almost 2,000 villagers, over a 20 Km-radius, who scrimped and saved for over three years from their meager savings derived from a subsistence way of life, and donated Kshs 50 per family per week in the hope of flicking on an electrical switch in their homes one day. In addition, the able family members mobilized themselves, and collectively, through a nerve-jangling, back-breaking process, they picked, shoveled, ferried and chipped, to build and assemble, free of charge, the dam foundation and structure, the powerhouse, and even the turbine to be used for the project.

Says Mr Kareithi, the chairperson of the Thiba Project committee, made up of representatives from the village, "we used some crude and unconventional engineering methods to build everything. It was very exciting to see how men, women and children, came out united to see this project through." When the dam was finally built; pipes in place, and turbine assembled, and the level of water in the reservoir had started to fall with such force over the brim, into the large blue pipes, and into the makeshift turbine, the whole village waited with baited breath for the miracle.

Few needed to understand the intricate engineering science behind the water blasting through the pipes and turbine. Even fewer needed to unravel the mechanics of power snaking its way through cables and transformers into their homes. But, none could deny the ultimate miracle of flicking on a tiny switch and watch in amazement as shafts of light lit up their world. Life has never been the same again for this area!

Today, it's the seemingly mundane experiences that spell a miracle in Agness's life and others like her in Thiba. "I no longer have to stoop over rice grains outside in the waning sunlight as dark approaches; I can do this in the house with a bright light, and even cook "With an electric cooker. We can have visitors until very late at night without worrying about the paraffin finishing in the lamps, and the outside of the compound is lit so we are not so worried

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