By Kurt Dahlin | Founder & President
As you know in Sub-Saharan Africa, traditionally, women and young girls bear the responsibility of obtaining their family’s water supply.
In Malawi in particular, 80% of the rural population spends more than an hour per trip of water collection; that means valuable time, sometimes upwards of three hours a day is lost collecting insufficient, contaminated water. Ultimately, a woman’s opportunity for education or small business ventures are entirely inhibited with this strenuous work.
WWFA believes clean water is the first step out of poverty, and that those without any should have it first. I know you agree!
So we take careful measures to ensure that the water wells we install last for at least 20 years by offering capacity building trainings to the communities for them to be able to take care of the well and maintain it mechanically by themselves. At each well site the local residents form a Community Based Management (CBM) team which is made up of 10 people -- usually 6 women and 4 men.
Each person on the CBM team learns how to take the pump completely apart and put it back together! Above and below we're sharing photos of some women from Thyolo village learning how to maintain the water well.
So far this year, with your help, WWFA has installed 51 wells -- 19 on school properties and 32 in villages. In October, our Malawi team is installing five more wells. Three are already drilled and two more to come in the remaining days of the month.
There have been 39 CBM trainings so far and we have five more happending int the coming days.
Without you, none of this would happen! We're so thankful that you care about people in need and help get them clean, accessible water which changes their lives for the better in every way!
Let's keep it going together!
With sincere thanks for those who wait,
Kurt Dahlin
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