Ndambala Village

Last Updated: January 2, 2020 by Reid

Dedication: The Leonard G. Herring Foundation

Installation Date: June 3, 2019

Location:
Village: Ndambala Village
District: Machinga
Country: Malawi

Quotes from village:

Makwinja Bwanali: Village Chief for 30 years: “I was born here. I am 65. This is my first drink of clean water. The bore hole is close to our homes. We have 69 families and no one has been sick since the installation. The clinic is so far away that sometimes people would die along the way due to waterborne disease. It was a four hour walk or 1.5 hour by bike to the clinic. Almost three people a week would suffer serious waterborne illnesses and needed to go to the clinic. Other people would suffer through it. It would take about a week to recover. The water is so close by now that women can put food on the fire, get water and come back.”

Esther Miles: “Our kids are able to go to school on time. They can draw water, wash and go on time to school. It is important for kids to study. It means that the future is brighter for our children. Our families are healthier. We are able to have a garden and grow our own vegetables. Some of the vegetables we will eat. Some vegetables we will sell in the local market to buy pencils and books. This is the fulfillment of a dream.”

GPS Location: See bottom of page.

Dedication Video

2019 Photos

Pre-Borehole Information (Mar 2018)

Ndambala has 47 households and there are seven other surrounding villages that draw from the current water well. Total number of families from the surrounding villages is 164. If the borehole is installed in this village, 211 families are going to benefit from it with a population of around 1,000 beneficiaries. The next borehole is at 5 kms or 3.1 miles away.

In Ndambala, the local people have to deal with the following issues:

During the dry season, people do wait for about 3 hours at the current water source and because of this, most of the time women miss farming and school children miss classes and go late to school.
During the rainy season, they have plenty of water but it is very unsafe as other waters and pollutants from the top soil is washed into their drinking water. Because of this, they have diarrhea and those affected are mostly children.
Last year, three people suffered from cholera.
Some years back, a chief lost his mother and sister in the same year due to diarrhea.
Last year, one school girl was bitten by a snake as she was going early in the dark to fetch water before school.

When the community is blessed with a water well, there is going to be reduced diarrhea cases. There will be good home hygiene practices and students are going to continue with their education, especially girls.