Stories from the Field
As we work to provide water, we're committed to helping people like you meet your global neighbors and to realize that we all share the same basic needs. We hope to break down stereotypes and the false distinctions between the so-called winners and losers, rich and poor, the needy and charitable, by introducing you to the people we serve with the respect and admiration they rightfully deserve.
These are stories of hope, told in the words of those who carry out this work every day - our friends in the field.
A Year Later: "The water is clean and safe for drinking."
When we first visited the Kalangba Junction Community, people were collecting and drinking dirty water because they had no other options. "The time this water facility was not completed, we only had open wells as sources of drinking water in the community, and it was very difficult fetching water from there. I was not having enough time to play wi...
A Year Later: A Thriving Farm and Income Stability!
Before we installed a new sand dam and shallow well in Mbitini, people had to walk for kilometers at a time just to fetch a single jerrycan of water. "I had to go fetch water to drink and cook at [the] Mbitini River, but I returned home feeling exhausted due to the long distance under the burning sun," said Gabriel. "I used to walk several kilomet...
A Year Later: Better Grades and a Kitchen Garden!
Before we helped to create a sand dam and shallow well in Mbitini, water was so scarce that it adversely affected the lives of everyone living there. “In the past, I had to walk several kilometers to [the] Mbitini River to enable our cattle [to] drink water, because I am usually tasked with herding cattle during the holidays and weekends," said ...
A Year Later: "I am feeling good!"
Before we rehabilitated the well in Tardi, the well would dry out for multiple months a year, and the pump would regularly break whether there was water or not. "It was not really easy for me and my community people before this project was completed in my community," said farmer Abdul Rahman Fofanah, who serves as the well's caretaker. We spoke wi...
A Year Later: "I can now drink enough water"
Life for students at St. Joseph Senior Secondary School used to include a daily hunt for water to meet their needs before they could think about learning. The well that students relied upon was not functional. "Before, the water was not enough for us. We are more [than] one thousand [students] in the school. During the dry season, the water point ...