Today is World Water Day and we have a happy story to share with you!
This is the story of a young girl named Sumini.
Granted, the beginning of the story is sad because the people of her village, Mbota in Malawi, had to collect their water out of a hand-dug pit.
That’s where we met her, as she was going to collect water for her family.
Her village is in an extremely remote location and has never had a reliable source of clean drinking water. They live next to a small stream that is used for washing clothes and watering animals, and sadly, it’s also their “drinking water.” Unfortunately, even this questionable source of water will disappear in the dry season. This stream has made many of the children in her village sick and caused many of them to miss a great deal of school.
Where we install water wells (and share our hygiene education program), the number of people getting sick from contaminated water drops to nothing. That’s something to celebrate!
Well…we couldn’t wait to get a water well installed in the village of Mbota, so Sumini and the other girls and women wouldn’t have to trek for miles, dig pits, and scoop water.
Fortunately for Sumini, all of this changed on the same day we visited her. What a gift we were able to bestow on behalf of WWFA supporters!
About an hour after we met her, the final touches were being completed on the new well in her village. We literally witnessed the last time she had to go down to the river for water!
This is a gift that Sumini and her family will use every day—for the rest of their lives.
In this next video, you see Reid Powell who is on our Board of Directors, standing with Sumini joyfully talking about how important this well will be for her — for all of her growing up years! She may not even remember going down the the stream to collect water in pans and buckets.
The people of her village broke out in spontaneous joy, singing and dancing around this gift of life! Our Founder & President Kurt Dahlin was there, too, and he shares an interesting observation about their celebration.
YOU are the one who gives gifts like this. Without you and your support, these wells wouldn’t happen. WWFA just facilitates! :)
Will you please join us? We have identified 10 more remote villages that need clean water. Together we’ll ensure that more children and families in Malawi get the gift that keeps giving, right?
And we can tell you—because we’ve seen the transformation in many villages—your gift WILL change lives and save lives…and should last for 20 years or more!
Thank you for being a person with a heart of compassion for others!
