Families: 60
Water Committee: 5 men and 5 women

For the people of Mpango, water collection once took up most of the morning. Families would leave around 4 a.m. and return at 10 a.m., carrying two 20-liter buckets and carefully balancing them one on top of the other for the journey home. Even ordinary moments—like leaving food cooking on the stove or attending a funeral—had to be planned around finding water.

The community had heard promises of a water well before, but nothing ever came of them. Agnes Yusuf Phiri Laison remembers eventually giving up hope. “We were seeking and asking,” she said, “and after a while we gave up because we had so many people promise them water but no one delivered.”

So when the drillers finally arrived, the community did more than watch. They helped with the drilling and provided food for the team. When the truck reached the village, they danced all the way from the road.

Now, water is close enough that families can wash clothes, bathe their children, and collect as much water as they need. They no longer have to choose between fetching water and tending to other responsibilities. Even the animals are benefiting, and families are already planning vegetable gardens and molding bricks.

There is a different feeling in the homes now, too. Husbands once sometimes accompanied their wives to the distant water source because the long absences created suspicion. Today, the community describes greater peace and family harmony.

After years of asking and waiting, the well has given Mpango something they had nearly stopped expecting: a reason to believe their prayers had been answered.