Clean Water for 420: The Mkandawire Village Well Project
Mkandawire Village Well Project - Impact Dashboard
Mkandawire Village has clean water for the first time in its history. Thanks to the generosity of 27 donors, the 420 residents of Mkandawire Village now draw safe, clean drinking water from a well of their own, and no longer carry brown, contaminated water by hand from a shallow hollow two kilometers away. The Mkandawire Village Well Project reached full funding on August 17, 2026, the drilling rig arrived just two weeks later, and the completed well was handed over to the village on September 2, 2026.
This project was made possible by 27 generous donors whose compassion and faith in this mission brought Mkandawire Village to full funding on August 17, 2026. Every gift, whether a first-time donation or the latest from a longtime friend of Water of Mercy, played a real and irreplaceable role in making this well possible.
We want to especially recognize Daniele R., whose extraordinary generosity funded more than half of this entire well in a single gift. That remarkable act of compassion carried Mkandawire Village across the finish line and made clean water possible for 420 people. Daniele is a faithful friend of the mission whose gifts have now reached four village wells, at Msese, Kajombo, Kapili, and now Mkandawire. We are profoundly grateful for his belief in this work.
We extend deep gratitude to our faithful friend Jörg P., whose unwavering support of Water of Mercy continues to inspire us. With an astounding 49 donations to date across 21 different village well projects, and two separate gifts to this well alone, Jörg P. exemplifies the kind of sustained commitment that makes lasting change possible. His generosity has helped bring clean water to Msese, Khorwa, Kajombo, Mchilawengo, Luwerezi, Msambanyifwa, Zebediya, Zakariya, Bundi, Chibekete, Kapili, Yesaya, Kaputeni Chisi, Chimbiranjala, Theu, Mataliyana, Chirwa, Chakwanika, Mazanga, Chindenga, and here at Mkandawire.
We are also grateful for our faithful repeat supporters Sonia M., whose eleven gifts to the mission have supported seven different village wells, and Alejandro E., whose ten gifts now reach across ten different village wells. Their steady faithfulness, village after village, is a quiet engine of this work.
We are grateful as well to our returning friends Daniel H. and Eduardo Z., who have each given to this well and to others before it. Your continued faithfulness means so much.
We also warmly welcome the many first-time donors whose gifts carried Mkandawire Village to the finish line. To every one of you giving to Water of Mercy for the first time, thank you for believing in this mission and in the people of Mkandawire.
We are deeply grateful to the parish communities of the 2026 Mission Appeal, whose generosity sustains this mission: St. John Cantius in Chicago, Mary, Mother of Divine Grace in Westchester, and St. Paul the Apostle in Gurnee. Members of St. John Cantius and St. Paul the Apostle made $1,810 in direct online donations to the Mkandawire well, about a third of its $5,500 cost, and the wider generosity of all three parishes through the Mission Appeal continues to carry clean water to villages like Mkandawire. Your parishes opened their hearts to a village far away, and Mkandawire will carry that kindness for generations.
A special thank you to several members of Father Petros's and Father Edmond's daily Rosary group, who have given generously to this well and to others before it. Your prayers and your generosity go hand in hand.
Together, all 27 of our donors, whatever the size of the gift, exemplify how generosity can transform entire communities, one well at a time.
From Crisis to Clean Water
Before this well, the 420 residents of Mkandawire Village had no access to safe drinking water. Their only source was a shallow hollow in low-lying ground where dark brown water stood among trampled earth and clumps of grass. Residents had to crouch at the edge of the water to scoop it into buckets and basins, waiting their turn as containers lined the bare dirt around them.
Every drop was carried in by hand from two kilometers away. The women and children made that journey daily, carrying the heavy, full containers on their heads along a rutted path back to the village. The water was shared with livestock, and this area was at high risk for cholera and other waterborne diseases, presenting severe health risks to the entire community.
Before: a mother, her infant on her back, gathers water from the muddy hole that was the village's only source, two kilometers from home.
The Difference This Well Has Made
Today, 420 people have clean, safe drinking water directly in their village. No one walks two kilometers to collect brown, contaminated water standing in a shallow hollow shared with livestock, and the women and children who carried every container of it home no longer have to make that walk. The risk of cholera and other waterborne diseases has been dramatically reduced, and the hours once lost to fetching water are given back to school, work, and family. Mkandawire now has reliable access to clean water year-round, breaking the cycle of disease caused by the source families depended on for generations.
A local water committee will care for the well, and with proper management this vital resource should serve the community for approximately 75 years.
Clean Water at Last
On August 31, 2026, the drilling team reached Mkandawire Village and successfully drilled the new borehole, striking water in abundance. After generations of crouching at the edge of a shallow hollow to scoop up brown, standing water, then carrying it two kilometers home, the people of Mkandawire watched clean water rise from a well of their own for the first time.
Water in abundance at the new borehole, and the drilling rig at work in Mkandawire Village on August 31, 2026.
The concrete pad was poured and the pump installed over the days that followed, and on September 2, 2026 the finished well was handed over to the village. Mkandawire is drawing clean water from it now. The formal pump blessing with Father Petros is still to come, and we will add photos and video of that celebration to this page once it has taken place.
The Power of Generosity
The Mkandawire Village Well Project is a testament to what happens when people answer the call to serve those in need. Twenty-seven donors saw a community crouching at the edge of a shallow hollow of dark brown water shared with livestock, then walking two kilometers home with heavy containers of dirty water, and they responded with extraordinary compassion. In sixteen days that community went from no safe water at all to a well of its own. You have given the gift of health to 420 people and to the generations yet to be born in Mkandawire Village. Never again will the women and children of Mkandawire have to make that long journey carrying water that puts their families at risk.
Please keep Father Petros in your prayers as he continues his dedicated work serving the people of Malawi. 🙏
A gallery of images and video from the drilling at Mkandawire Village is included below. Photos and video of the pump blessing will be added to this page once the celebration has taken place.