Water of Mercy
Mpherembe Village Well Project
Mpherembe Village Well Project
Location: Mpherembe Village, Malawi Africa
Population: 800
Current Water Situation: A line of buckets and plastic basins waits on the dry ground at Mpherembe Village while the water is lifted out one small dish at a time. The 800 residents have no access to safe drinking water and no alternative source. Everything they drink comes from a dambo, a shallow marshy depression, where the water seeps out at the foot of a low grassy bank into a churned, muddy hollow. There is no pool deep enough to dip a bucket into, so women and children crouch on the wet ground, fill a small basin and tip it into whatever containers they have carried down, over and over, until there is enough to take home. The dambo is shared with livestock and wild animals. Mpherembe sits close to the trading center, so this one hollow supplies a village with people moving through it every day. This area is at high risk for cholera and other waterborne diseases, presenting severe health risks to the entire community.
Project Impact: A properly constructed borehole in Mpherembe Village will serve 800 people. This essential infrastructure will provide clean, safe drinking water directly in the village, ending the wait at a muddy hollow in a dambo and the slow work of filling a basin at a time from ground that has to be crouched over. The project will dramatically reduce the risk of cholera and other waterborne diseases that threaten this community, fundamentally improving the overall health and well-being of residents. A village on the edge of the trading center, with people passing through it every day, will no longer depend on an open source that livestock and wild animals reach as freely as its residents do. Families will gain reliable access to clean water year-round, breaking the cycle of disease caused by their current contaminated water source.
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