Drilling a Community Well - 2024

The start of 2024 had an interesting development for Zambia - an outbreak of cholera. The schools were delayed in opening because of multiple cholera outbreaks throughout the country. Also, our area had not received a large amount of rain, and the water table was continuing to recede.

I took a leap of faith and decided it was time to fundraise for a community well at one of the Sakamana locations. Drilling a borehole had been high on my priority list for quite some time. I’d had multiple conversations with community members to find out their source of clean water. Despite the fact that other organizations had drilled boreholes within 10 kilometers of the area that Sakamana serves, community members still had to walk a minimum of 15 minutes to a water source. Walking such a long distance limits a person in how much food you can grow, animals you can keep, and of course, how much water can be used for sanitary purposes. A borehole was definitely necessary especially with a looming cholera crisis.

Within weeks, we had fully funded the borehole. What a blessing! Now, we waited for the rainy season to completely finish.

In May, the day finally arrived for the borehole to be drilled. There was much anticipation and excitement. Of course, there was always the possibility that we wouldn’t find water. But God abundantly blessed us with a fully functioning well full of clean water. What a blessing!

Thank you to each of our partners who made this well possible. It has improved sanitation and food security in this community. And each morning at Sakamana, what a joy it is to see community members coming to access clean water.