Water of Mercy grew out of our simple friendship with Father Petros, a young and humble Catholic priest in Malawi, Africa. At the time of our founding, Father Petros was responsible for 50 "prayer centers" (churches without a full-time priest) and 40,000 tremendously faithful yet impoverished rural Malawian parishioners. When we asked how we could help most, his answer was clear and direct: fresh water. Thousands of his parishioners had no access to clean water and were forced to walk kilometers to water sources that were often contaminated and seasonal.
Water of Mercy emerged through our partnership with Father Petros, working alongside a local Malawian well boring company with some assistance from the government. We discovered that for roughly $5,000, we could fund, drill, and construct a freshwater well with high probability of success.
As an initial experiment, we funded a single well in Yotamu Village, Malawi. The results exceeded our expectations. The well was bored, constructed, and operational in just two weeks. The residents immediately formed a committee to manage well maintenance, and the well is estimated to last 75 years, providing decades of clean water to the community.
The system we co-developed with Father Petros has proven to be both repeatable and scalable. Father Petros serves as our direct representative in Malawi and is equally committed to ensuring successful outcomes for each well project, identifying villages with the greatest need, and using donations efficiently and responsibly. This partnership allows Water of Mercy to operate with minimal overhead while maximizing the impact of every donation we receive.
