Kaluluma Village: Clean Water for 750 People and the Hospital That Serves Them
Kaluluma Village Well Project - Impact Dashboard
Kaluluma Village has struck water. On October 13, 2026, the drilling team reached water beneath Kaluluma Village, and Father Petros reports plenty of it. Thanks to 13 generous donors, the 750 residents of Kaluluma, along with the rural hospital that serves them, will soon have safe, clean drinking water in the village, ending their reliance on a shallow hollow scooped into the wet ground of a dambo.
This project was made possible by 13 generous donors whose compassion and faith in this mission brought Kaluluma Village to full funding on October 3, 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 are deeply grateful to St. John Cantius Parish in Chicago, in the Archdiocese of Chicago, whose generosity provided $1,713, nearly a third of this well's $5,500 cost. Our thanks as well to the Knights of Columbus for their gift to this well. Your communities opened their hearts to a village far away, and Kaluluma will carry that kindness for generations.
We extend deep gratitude to our faithful friend Jörg P., whose unwavering support of Water of Mercy continues to inspire us. With an astounding 53 donations to date across 23 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 reached Msese, Khorwa, Kajombo, Mchilawengo, Luwerezi, Msambanyifwa, Zebediya, Zakariya, Bundi, Chibekete, Kapili, Yesaya, Kaputeni Chisi, Chimbiranjala, Theu, Mataliyana, Chirwa, Mkandawire, Chakwanika, Mazanga, Chindenga, Mpherembe, and now Kaluluma.
We want to especially recognize Beth J., whose gift of $1,000 carried nearly a fifth of this well. Beth's commitment reaches across the mission: this gift brings Beth's support to nine village wells, at Yesaya, Kaputeni Chisi, Chimbiranjala, Mataliyana, Theu, Chirwa, Chakwanika, Chindenga, and now Kaluluma.
We are also grateful for our faithful repeat supporters Sonia M., whose thirteen gifts to the mission have supported nine different village wells, and Alejandro E., whose twelve gifts now reach across twelve different village wells. Their steady faithfulness, village after village, is a quiet engine of this work.
We are glad to welcome back Greg A., who has now given to five Water of Mercy wells, at Emvuyane, Kajombo, Mchilawengo, Chibekete, and Kaluluma; Zachary H., who returns after giving to Chimbiranjala, Chirwa, and Mazanga; and Mary S., who gave to Mazanga and has now given again here at Kaluluma.
We also warmly welcome the first-time donors whose gifts helped carry Kaluluma Village to full funding. Thank you for believing in this mission and in the people of Kaluluma.
Together, all 13 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
Until now, the 750 residents of Kaluluma Village have had no access to safe drinking water. They depend entirely on a dambo, a marshy hollow in open grassland where water collects below the surface. There is no pool to draw from, only a shallow hole scooped into the wet ground, barely wider than a washing basin.
Residents crouch over it and lift the dark, still water out a small dish at a time, waiting their turn as buckets and basins line the grass around them, then carry the full containers home on their heads across open ground. The dambo is shared with livestock and wild animals, and this area is at high risk for cholera and other waterborne diseases.
A rural hospital serves this community, so the same contaminated water reaches the place people go to be treated.
Before: filling a container from the scooped hollow in the dambo while others wait their turn.
Water Struck at Kaluluma
The drilling rig arrived at Kaluluma and the team drilled the new borehole on October 13, 2026. When they struck water, it burst up out of the borehole in a towering column beside the rig's mast, carrying mud and rock chips with it, and then ran from the discharge pipe as the borehole was cleaned out.
Father Petros reports that the drilling was very successful and that the new borehole has plenty of water. After depending on a hollow no wider than a basin, the people of Kaluluma now have water rising from deep beneath their own ground.
Water bursts up from the new borehole at Kaluluma Village.
The Pump Is In
With the borehole drilled, the hand pump has been installed and a concrete pad built around it to keep the wellhead clean and carry spilled water away. The concrete needs time to cure before the well is put to daily use. Father Petros will then bless the new well and formally hand it over to the community.
The Difference This Well Makes
A properly constructed borehole in Kaluluma Village will serve 750 people, along with the rural hospital that serves them. It will provide clean, safe drinking water directly in the village, ending the wait at a scooped hollow in the dambo and the slow work of lifting water out a dish at a time. It will dramatically reduce the risk of cholera and other waterborne diseases that threaten this community, and a hospital treating those illnesses will no longer depend on the water that spreads them.
The women and children who carry every container home across open ground will be freed from that daily journey. With proper management by a village maintenance committee, this vital resource should serve the community for approximately 75 years.
The Power of Generosity
The Kaluluma Village Well Project is a testament to what a community of givers can accomplish. A parish in Chicago, the Knights of Columbus, longtime friends from around the world and first-time donors came together to change the future of 750 people who have never had a safe source of water of their own.
Please keep Father Petros in your prayers as he continues his dedicated work serving the people of Malawi. 🙏
A gallery of video from the drilling at Kaluluma Village is included below.