Clean, Safe Water Brings Health and Joy to Kibasi Village Residents
Before school starts, most students are getting much needed rest. However, sleep was a luxury 13-year-old Esther Nalubega could not afford. Esther’s day began hours before school started as she had to collect water from a distant swamp for her family in Kibasi village, Kassandra district.
“I always felt tired when collecting water, but I had to do it every morning before going to school,” said Esther.
Sometimes Esther was required to do even more in order to ensure her family had clean, usable water. This often meant collecting firewood so her family could boil the water, and sometimes making multiple trips to the swamp.
“Sometimes, I woke up at 4:00 am to make more than one journey to the swamp, but there still wasn’t enough water for our family to use,” said Esther.
The water shortage in Kibasi village also caused problems for 29-year-old Joan Mbambu who relied on selling cabbage to provide for her three children. In the past, she had to walk to the distant swamp to collect water to irrigate her cabbage garden. Due to the water shortage in the community her harvests were always very low and the cabbage was often poor quality which left Joan with nearly no money to provide for her kids.
“Imagine walking about 4 kilometers to the market to sell very few cabbages and coming back with no penny at all because my products were not good looking. If lucky, I would at times earn between $2.5 to $3 USD from the all harvest,” said Joan. “Whenever my children fell sick, mostly with typhoid, I never had enough money to get them proper treatment, I worried so much”
Fortunately for Esther, Joan, and the other village residents, in 2021, Wells of Life, with support from GLENN & SUZANNE ZETZ, (USA), drilled well #641 in Kibasi village improving water accessibility and availability in the community.
“Since we received the new well, I no longer walk to the swamp or get up early to get water,” said Esther. “I have more time to prepare myself to go to school. There is enough water for everyone in the village.”
The availability of clean water has improved health conditions across the village. Joan’s children no longer fall sick of typhoid and other water borne diseases.
“My family and I are very happy and thankful for the clean water well we got in our village,” said Joan.
Now, Joan easily irrigates her cabbage garden using the sufficient water from the new well. She hopes for a bigger harvest this season.
Deo Ssempijja, the Local Council I chairman of Kibasi village, said, “Our village life is really improved and different from years ago when we were faced with a lack of water. Water collection was a difficult task placed on women and children. However, today anybody can easily fetch clean water from the new well,” said Deo. “Thank you, Wells of Life, and the kind-hearted donors that gave us this well.”