Families: 58 households
Water Committee: 4 men and 6 women

The people of Makunje came to this area from Thyolo and Mulanje in 1984. For years, their only reliable water source was a borehole more than two kilometers away, shared by more than 560 households. Before the new well, women would wake at 3 or 4 a.m. only to find a long line waiting. They might spend four hours collecting a single bucket and return home with just two or three buckets for the day. During the rainy season, families turned to shallow wells instead.

The shortage came with a heavy cost. Diarrhea was constant, and two years ago, the community buried someone who died from cholera. Families made the seven-kilometer journey to Chilong Medical Clinic as often as three times a month—a walk of two and a half to three hours each way. Even then, medicine was not guaranteed.

The new well is changing the pace of everyday life. “Things are lighter now,” one woman said. Water that once took hours to collect is now available almost instantly, and families can draw six or seven buckets a day. Women no longer spend their mornings waiting in line or fighting over their place. There is peace at the water point, and families are washing clothes, making plans for gardens, and molding bricks for new homes.

Getting the well here required work of its own. The community spent two days repairing the road so the drilling team could reach them. Now, they are putting that same energy toward what comes next.

The biggest change may be seen at school. Before the well, only about 40 percent of children were attending regularly. Now, 100 percent are going to school on time, bathed and in clean clothes. As the community put it plainly: “Water made the difference.”