Madzi = Moyo!
Water equals life! A popular slogan in Malawi and it’s so very true. Water is an essential commodity, required for drinking, washing, cleaning, for animals and crops. Often when there’s a shortage, people become ill and may die.
At Kombola, a village where the Malawi Project is operating, a reliable source of water was a major problem. Villagers collected water from the river which was around an hour’s walk away. The river water was often dirty and certainly not safe to drink, but with no alternative, villagers made do with it.
In the dry season things were even worse....the river dried up completely, holes would be dug in the river in the hope of finding an underground source. Quite often they had to dig down more than a metre to find water. The larger families were forced to collect water many times each day.
However, things have now changed! Bennet writes -
"I am very delighted to let you know at long last our dear brothers and sisters in Milepa have access to good water to drink now that the borehole has been drilled. Glory be to God."
Thanks to your generosity, Malawi Project has been able to drill a new borehole in Kombola Village.
The borehole has been drilled to a depth of 40 metres ensuring a reliable source of clean water all year round. The new pump is located in the village centre and helps everyone in the village by reducing the distance that water has to be carried.
In addition the Project repaired boreholes in two of the neighbouring villages. Those boreholes had been drilled many years ago but when the pumps stopped working the locals didn’t know how to repair them and reverted back to collecting water from the rivers again......water equals life!
Once the engineers completed drilling the new borehole at Kombola, the Project arranged for them to repair the two faulty boreholes providing these areas with clean water as well.
At all three sites volunteers living near the boreholes are being trained in how to look after and maintain them including carrying repairs if anything goes wrong. We are hopeful that this proactive preventative approach will provide the villagers with reliable clean water for many years to come.
