Families: 40
Water Committee: 5 men and 5 women

In Kela 2, the new well is being described in deeply personal terms: “He makes water where there is no water. He makes a way where there is no way. No one has done this but Jesus.” For the women serving on the water committee, there is another first to celebrate—they have been elected to a leadership position in their community for the first time.

Before the well, women woke at 2 a.m. for the two-kilometer walk to a distant borehole. Even after making the journey, they might return with just one bucket. The water point was so crowded that women fought there almost every day. Gertrude was known for winning those fights. Meanwhile, husbands were left at home through the early morning hours, waiting for their wives to return.

That routine has completely shifted. Families can now collect four buckets with a fraction of the effort. Instead of spending the early morning walking for water, people can sleep until 7 a.m., look for day work, clean their homes, and tend their gardens.

Water scarcity also meant making difficult choices about what the little water they had could be used for. Drinking came before bathing, and children sometimes had responsibilities that kept them from school. Now, families can bathe whenever they need to and use the water without having to calculate which need matters most.

For Kela 2, the most striking change may be the morning itself: a day that once began at 2 a.m. at a distant borehole can now begin at home.