Families: 175
Water Committee: 5 men and 5 women

When the drilling truck first appeared in Khombe 2, people prayed and cried. They had been told they would never have a water well. Then the truck got stuck and turned back. When it returned, the community knew they might finally be seeing the answer to years of waiting.

Before the well, women woke as early as 3 or 4 a.m. to collect water. Long lines meant they could spend three or four hours getting a single bucket, and two buckets was often all a family could manage in a day. The water shortages affected school attendance, too. About 40 percent of children were missing school, while those who did attend often arrived late.

Now, families can collect four or five buckets without spending the morning waiting in line. Children can get ready for school on time, and parents can sleep a little longer, work in their gardens, or go into town to earn money. “We have liberty now,” one woman explained.

The difference is also being felt at Malembo Health Center. Families once made the 5–6 kilometer journey about three times a month, sometimes spending 15,000 to 40,000 Kwacha on a single visit. Some had to work extra hours simply to afford medical care. In the three and a half months since the well was installed, no one from the community has gone to the clinic for a water-related illness.

At home, the change is just as noticeable. Families can finally bathe with a full bucket of water, and one woman joked that her husband now “smells good” and looks clean. Businesses selling fish fritters have started, bricks are being molded, and marriages that were strained by the hours spent fetching water are becoming stronger.

For Maria Simon, the well is more than an improvement to daily life: “Without the well I would have died.” And across Khombe 2, the feeling is summed up simply: “Our prayers have been answered.”