In Butwa Village, the river used to be a gamble. Every sip meant sickness. Every trip to fetch water could end in violence. Yet for years, the Mudi River was all they had.
During the 2024 cholera outbreak in Malawi, the gamble turned deadly. Several lives were lost. At Chimembe Health Center, beds filled with patients from Butwa. The grief was heavy, but so was the hopelessness–because even after the burials, the river was still the only option. Can you imagine having to drink from the river that killed your loved one?
Water collecting wasn’t just exhausting– it was dangerous. Women faced harassment and violence along the long path to the river, and many husbands, suspicious of the hours spent away, accused their wives of extramarital affairs. Children skipped school to help carry buckets. Elderly residents often went without, unable to make steep climbs.
Mary Banda remembers those days well.
“I was one of the victims,” she says. “More than once, I fought with my husband because he didn’t believe I had only gone to fetch water.”
The Day the Water Came Home
On April 10, 2025, something new stood in the heart of Butwa Village : a brand new WWFA water well. Clean, cold water surged up with every pump . The walk to the river was over.
The changes began immediately. Cholera cases vanished. Gardens sprang up in once dusty yards. Laughter replaced the old arguments about time spent fetching water.
For Esmy Amos, a local woman and mother, the transformation was personal.
“My children go to school every day now,” she says. “I have time to grow vegetables and sell them. I can support my family in ways I never could before.”
Her teenage son Justin saw his own opportunity. With water just steps away, he started a banana plantation. The plants are green and strong–just like his dreams for the future, vibrant and flourishing.
“We now have plenty of time to do other things like farming,” he says with quiet pride.
His story echoes that of many young people in Butwa who are now aspiring to a life beyond mere survival.
A Village with a Future
It’s hard to overstate what the well means to Butwa. Where disease once drained the life from the village, health now flows freely. Where arguments over chores and money once split families, small businesses now help them thrive.
From every corner of Butwa village, the message is clear: “Thank you, Water Wells for Africa, for coming to our rescue!” The message from Butwa is simple: clean water didn’t just save lives here—it gave them back.
