Josh Stowe | May 29, 2018
When the six-month dry season begins each year in South Sudan, life quickly becomes a struggle to survive.
People in remote areas of the country spend hours each day walking in 120-degree heat to look for water. They abandon their homes for months at a time, unable to build or maintain the schools, markets, and medical facilities their communities need. And when they do find water, it’s often contaminated with bacteria or parasites that can leave them sick or dead.
That’s the struggle Lynn Malooly ’84 addresses in her role as executive director of Water for South Sudan, a nonprofit dedicated to drilling wells across the country.
“The need is tremendous,” Malooly says. “We try to spread out our work to reach as many people as possible.”
So far, the organization has drilled 340 wells—including one this spring sponsored by Malooly’s classmates—and its goal is to add 40 more each season. Employees work with local officials to determine the best locations for new wells.
“We have our own operations center in South Sudan, so we employ all local people,” Malooly says. “That’s something we’re hugely proud of. We use local, on-the-ground leadership. We want to build our team in South Sudan as much as we want to help villages. The people on our team know the language, the people, the customs, and they can navigate the country in ways that westerners can’t.”
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