Katete School: Clean Water for 1230 Children, Given in Honor of a Dear Friend
Katete School Well Project - Impact Dashboard
Katete School now has clean water for the first time. Thanks to the extraordinary generosity of a single family, the 1,230 learners at Katete School, along with their teachers, now have safe, clean drinking water right on the school grounds, ending the long and hazardous daily journey to a borehole three kilometers away. This well is dedicated to Cecil Puvathingal and his family, with prayers for his healing.
This project was made possible by a single act of extraordinary generosity. A generous family from Mary, Mother of Divine Grace Parish in the Archdiocese of Chicago has chosen to fully fund the Katete School Well Project, covering 100% of the goal in a single gift. Because of their compassion and faith, 1,230 learners now have clean, safe drinking water at their school for the first time, and children no longer lose hours of every school day to a dangerous walk for water. We are profoundly grateful for this generosity and this belief in our mission.
May God bless this generous family for their gift, and may He bring healing to Cecil and comfort and strength to Grace and their family. 🙏
In Honor of Cecil Puvathingal
This well is dedicated to Cecil Puvathingal and his family. Cecil is one of the most beloved friends of the family who funded it. He is a man of rare goodness, and it is in love and admiration for him that this gift was made.
Cecil is living a very hard road. He was diagnosed with ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) one month after his wife, Grace, found out she was pregnant with their first child. Within 6 months, Cecil was on a ventilator and in a wheelchair full time. He now has a feeding tube and requires 24/7 nursing care. Lizzy, their miracle child, was born on November 10, 2025.
Cecil is one of the most selfless, caring, and genuinely positive people we know. Even while battling ALS, he continues to show an incredible amount of strength, courage, and grace. He has a way of putting others before himself and making the people around him feel loved, supported, and cared for.
What inspires us most about Cecil is that his circumstances have never taken away his kindness or his ability to bring positivity to others. He continues to find reasons to smile, to encourage the people around him, and to give so much of himself even when he is the one facing the hardest battle. His strength is not just in what he endures, it is in the way he continues to love, care, and show up for the people he cares about. Cecil is resilient, compassionate, generous, and truly one of a kind. We are incredibly grateful to know him and honored to call him our friend.
Through all of this, Cecil's life has been a reminder to everyone around him of how precious the simplest gifts are, the ordinary graces most of us pass by without a thought.
It is fitting, then, that his name is joined to the gift of clean water, one of the most basic gifts of all. Because of this dedication, 1,230 children at Katete School who have never had water where they learn will have it close at hand, and every day that water flows there, it will flow in Cecil's honor.
Please keep Cecil, Grace, and their family in your prayers, and pray especially for Cecil's healing.
The dedication plaque for Katete School.
CBS Chicago told Cecil and Grace's story in May 2026, during ALS Awareness Month. "I'm in a wheelchair, but I can still kiss my wife," Cecil said. "I'm batting a thousand." CBS plays a short commercial first. The story runs just under four minutes and is worth the wait.
From Crisis to Clean Water
Until now, the 1,230 learners at Katete School had no water source at the school. Each day, students walked three kilometers to the nearest borehole, filled large buckets, and carried the heavy, full containers back to the school on their heads. The route was rough and hazardous, with many places to slip and fall along the way.
This long daily journey took hours from the school day and fell on the children themselves. With so many learners depending on a source so far away, lessons were repeatedly interrupted by the basic need to fetch water, and students returned to their desks worn out from the walk and the weight they carried. Time that should have been spent learning was instead spent on the road.
In this video, several of the school's young girls set out with their teacher, a religious sister, to make the walk together. They filled their buckets and carried the heavy loads back along that same path, a journey they made day after day so that the school could have water.
Several young girls and their teacher, a religious sister, make the three-kilometer journey for water.
Learners in class at Katete School.
Classroom images courtesy of the "Katete Girls" sponsorship project.
The Well Is Complete
On August 18, 2026, the drilling team reached Katete School and successfully drilled the borehole, striking plenty of water. The concrete pad was poured and the pump installed, and for the first time, Katete School has clean water of its own. The long, hazardous daily walk to a borehole three kilometers away is over.
Pump Blessing
On September 16, 2026, Father Petros blessed the new well at Katete School and formally handed it over to the school. The girls of Katete School and their teachers gathered around the pump, which stands in the middle of the school grounds within easy reach of every classroom and of everyone who studies and works there. The ceremony was, above all, a prayer of thanksgiving. The girls and their teachers prayed the Our Father together and sang songs of thanks to the Lord, with drumming to carry the singing, and the students crowded in close as the well was blessed and the first buckets were filled.
Every Water of Mercy pump carries a sticker with the words of Jesus from the Divine Mercy devotion, "Jesus, I trust in you." The girls of Katete School will be reminded of those words every day. The dedication plaque in honor of Cecil Puvathingal will be displayed in the school, so that all the girls can remember Cecil, his wife Grace, and their young daughter Lizzy.
The blessing of the new well at Katete School.
The Power of Generosity
The Katete School Well Project is a testament to what a single act of generosity can accomplish. A generous family chose to fully fund this well, transforming the daily lives of 1,230 learners who had never had water at their school. This gift was made in honor of their beloved friend Cecil Puvathingal, with prayers for his healing and for Grace and their family. Because of this gift, students at Katete no longer spend part of every school day on a long, hazardous walk for water. They have safe water where they learn, and the hours once lost to the journey are given back to their education.
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, construction and pump blessing at Katete School is included below.