Taking Water for Granted
Malomo, Malawi … In Western nations, the availability of clean water is taken for granted. In every house, water is available in every kitchen and bathroom at the touch of a handle. Turn the handle slightly and out comes clean, fresh water. On the outside of our houses water is easily available with the simple turn of the spigot.
In Malawi, this is not the case. Few houses have clean water piped in, and even fewer have water available outside their homes. It is estimated more than one out of every three people do not have good water available from any source. That is more than 5 million people who remain vulnerable to disease and death from water-borne diseases. Such is the case near the Malomo Trading Center located 55 miles (90 km) to the northeast of the capital city of Lilongwe. It can be reached from Kasungu to the west, or Nkhotakota, to its east.
In this remote, mountainous region women would get up as early as 3 AM, then walk over half a mile (900 meters) to reach a shallow well beside the Mfuwanjovu River. The water is not clean, and for much of the year, it runs dry, forcing women to walk even farther to reach water. Even when water has been available it is not clean, and large numbers of people come down with cholera and other waterborne illnesses.
Recently the need was presented to the North Central Church of Christ in Indianapolis, Indiana and the congregation responded to the need. (North Central is the birthplace of the Malawi Project). The church contributed funds to the Malawi Project and the Project joined Action for Progress to supply a well (borehole in Malawi) that would make clean water available to over 1,000 people in the Nkhwere Village, and 4 other villages in the area.
When the well was completed, a great ceremony took place, and the excitement was evident. People could not believe they had a water source at the center of their village. The Village Head, Samson, noted how hard it was for her and other women to bring water to the village. The water they gathered was unclean and contributed to the spread of disease.“This water problem has always existed,” she said.
At the end of the day, as the Action for Progress team turned back toward Lilongwe, Wilson Tembo, AfP Executive Director could report, “We left happy faces who had no hope for the future, but now they have hope. They had health issues every time they used the unclean water, but now they have a better source of water. Thank you for your contributions to make this possible.”
Picture: Excitement can be heard all around as the village women sing, and a village boy drinks clean water for the first time. Additional pictures can be seen at: flickr .com/photos/malawiproject.