Canadian water whisperer a vital resource in rural Kenya

At 86, an age when most of hisfriends are taking it easy, Canadian Lex Rutherford is on a mission. He's in Kenya showing farmers how to find waterbeneath their fields.

Fetching water is a back-breaking chore on many Kenyan farms, involvingseveral daily trips usually by women to the local river.Diggingawell onthe farm brings irrigation, which multipliescrop yields and allows farmers to spend much more time tending fields.

It can also save lives. Drought has been hammering Kenyan farmers, who depend on unpredictablerains for irrigation, andlivestock has been dying and crops failing.

So, Rutherford's work has turnedhim into something of a celebrity. Aretired agricultural specialist,he'shelped thousands of farmers since arriving in the country four years ago from Vancouver Island.

Some might recognize his technique, using two pieces of wire to detect water,as something called dowsing. But Rutherford insiststhat God has a hand in moving the wires.

Once he finds the water, he showsfarmers how to create wells shallow enough to be dug out by hand, deep enough to provide a steady source of water.

By showing farmers how tocreatea steady source of water, he's handing responsibility for providing water back to the community. He trains pairs of women and men so the knowledge can be passed on. "I don't want to be a resource that eventually disappears," he says.

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