Our Impact
Our 13 wells serve people in four different districts of Zimbabwe, with three wells each in Mwenezi, Kadoma and Chegutu. In addition, we have installed two each in Norton and in Epworth, Harare.
These wells are drastically improving the lives of thousands every day.
Tariro
Tariro is a 10 year old girl in the village of Ngongondi in the Mwenezi district. She dropped out of school in this impoverished community, to start helping her family as a laborer. While she has several household chores, her primary task begins every day at dawn, when she starts a 15-mile trek over rugged terrain to the closest source of water, usually a river or pond. The water is not safe to use – it’s laden with disease-carrying germs, human and animal body fluids and excretions, and more – but it’s the only water she can find. Many hours later, close to sunset – and with a four-gallon bucket of filthy water on her head – she returns home to the village. Her story is not unique – in so many areas of Zimbabwe – remote, rural and urban, children and adults, even the very elderly, often trudge 15 miles or more to find a source of water. In the heat of summer, it can be much farther, as the hot weather dries out the water sources. There is a happy ending for Tariro and others like her from Ngongondi, as there is now clean and sanitary water flowing in the village because of your donations – her days of struggling to find any source of water are now over and she can return to school.
The Rusaza School
This well is located at a primary school with a population of 552 students. Today around 2,800 people (552 children included) utilize this well. The previous source of water was a disease and germ-infested river located 10 miles away. Teachers at this school explained that cholera and typhoid outbreaks were so common that at times half their classes would be out sick. It was at this school that we commissioned one of our wells in 2014. Five years later, we are so grateful for the impact this well has made. Since its installation, the school has been able to expand and plans for continued expansion in the coming years. Our well has also made it possible for an onsite garden to flourish.
The Bongo Business Center
On our site visit to this area, we learned that the need was high and that a new well would serve approximately 2,500 people every day. This well is by far serving the most people of any of the 10 wells that we installed. No one could have predicted the major difference made by this well. Just days after it was completed in early February, torrential rains caused dangerous and massive flooding in a village 100 miles away from Bongo. A state of emergency was declared and over 1,000 families were relocated by the International Red Cross to a temporary tent city near the well. Today, this well serves more than 7,000 people each day!
Our deepest thanks and heartfelt gratitude to all those who support our cause. We could not continue the work we do without your help. Learn more about the impact we are making by reading our newsletters.