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Update 1Update 2 - Oct 31, 2007 Update 3 - Nov 25, 2007 Christmas Update Dec 2007 Update 4 - Jan 17, 2008
Last October the EICanada staff had the opportunity to meet a young girl from Ontario, Canada who personally raised the money needed to build a well in Malawi, one of our project countries.
Alexis, a 13 year old from a small town, felt drawn to meet the basic needs of a community in Malawi. She, with some help from family members, set out to raise money for the construction of a well. A family member put together a webpage for her and away she went with her idea: "Water Gives Life." Through different means, one of which was to sell awareness bracelets, she single-handedly raised the money necessary to build the well.
The result: a needy community in Malawi will receive the gift of clean water! Alexis aptly named her campaign "Water Gives Life." You can check out her webpage at watergiveslife.org. On her home page she reflects on the materialism so prominent in North America which stands as such a contrast to the day-by-day basic needs of the poorest people in our world:
"I began thinking about people whose thoughts are not of these material things but of the essentials such as having enough food and water.
I had seen a program about the poverty and illness in Africa. The show explained how people had to walk long distances each day to collect water to drink and for cooking. The water came from a waterhole and was filthy, full of bacteria and disease. Even though the water is not fit for consumption, the people of the villages have no other choice but to drink it because it is all they have. I decided that I wanted to make a difference. I asked my parents not to throw me a birthday party and instead use the money to help purchase BRACELETS for my cause, WATER GIVES LIFE."
Above: an example of a finished well in Malawi
Not long after our meeting with Alexis one of the EICanada Interns in Malawi wrote the first update letter. This is part of what she wrote:
Well Update #1
"I am working with Emmanuel International Canada in Zomba, Malawi. I have just returned from the village of Kamalo, in Zomba District, where construction is underway for the well. The villagers were quite excited because after two weeks of hard digging, they have reached water!
They will still need to dig for a few more days so that the well is deep enough to ensure a steady supply of water, but we are already in the process of buying the extra materials that will be needed (cement, pump, etc). The villagers have been contributing to the process by moulding bricks which will be used to line the inside of the well, and they have been collecting quarry stones and sand which will be mixed to create concrete for the top of the pump. They have also been doing the digging themselves. Having them so involved in the process helps to increase their ownership over the project and will help to ensure that they maintain the well once it is finished.
"The community is quite excited and enthusiastic about this project because their current water situation is less than ideal. Some women walk two kilometres to a borehole in the next village. The weather is quite hot, and this is a very tiring journey for the women and girls who are responsible for carrying the heavy pails of water back on their heads. Some families obtain their water from a small stream that runs close to the village. This water is not clean, and the villagers often fall sick from drinking the contaminated water.
"The third option is for women to use the open well that is located in their community. This water is not safe either, because the well is open and is very shallow which means that it often dries up, so there is not a lot of water available. Collecting this water is a very time-consuming task as the women and girls have to wait for the water to trickle into the well before they can collect it.
"There are 70 families who live in Kamalo. Most families in this village have five or more children. This means that thanks to your generosity and hard work, approximately 490 people will soon receive clean, safe water, in abundance."
Well Update #2 - October 31, 2007
"I just got back from visiting Kamalo village and wanted to let you know how quickly progress is coming along on their well. Already villagers have finished making the bricks, which is quite a time consuming task.
"First they dig a big hole and fill it with mud. They add some water and then use their feet to mix the water and the mud. There is a wooden mold that they use to shape the bricks, then they leave them out in the sun to dry, for approximately two weeks. Once the bricks are dry, they build a kiln out of the bricks that they have molded and they leave holes open at the bottom, kind of like an upside down sandcastle. They light fires in the holes which cook the bricks. The firing takes about 24 hours. These bricks are used to line the inside of the well, to ensure that the walls do not collapse.
"Small pieces of rocks, like the gravel that you can find on dirt roads in Canada, are collected to be mixed with cement and water to create concrete. In many cases they have to pound large rocks/boulders with big hammers to get the smaller pieces. The concrete is used to keep the bricks glued together inside the well. Concrete will also be used to create the cover for the well and the wash basin that will be located close by.
"The people in Kamalo are very excited about this well. Their enthusiasm is very contagious, and it is always a great experience to go and see their progress."
Update #3 - November 25, 2007
I visited last week to check up on the progress and it is coming along quite nicely. The bricks on the inside of the well have been covered with concrete to prevent them from caving in, and a drainage line has been installed, so that excess water does not accumulate on the ground surrounding the well. Also, a laundry basin has been constructed a few meters away from the well so that women and children can wash their family’s clothes and have easy access to the water.
Work for the next little while will involve fitting a concrete cover/seal over top of the well, to prevent bugs and small animals from contaminating the water. Following this, a pump will be installed to make it easy for the community to access the water.
December 2007 - Innkeepers and Clean Water
"My housemates and I were interrupted during dinner this evening by a woman knocking at our door asking for work. We apologized, told her we had none, and she went on her way. She was followed shortly after by a man selling wooden carvings, to earn money to feed his family. Yesterday morning it was someone looking for money to bury a relative, the day before that it was someone needing cash to purchase badly needed fertilizer. One time a woman pleaded with me to take her new born child with me when I return to Canada. Here in Malawi, Central Africa, there seems to be no end to this constant stream of people needing assistance, and I’m finding it emotionally exhausting to be surrounded by so much need, while having so few resources to help.
"This is the season of Advent, a time when Christians prepare for Christmas, and the second coming of Christ. When He came the first time, people weren’t ready. As the story goes, there wasn’t even room for Him at the local inn. I wonder what that innkeeper must have felt on that dark and starry night two thousand years ago when Joseph and a very pregnant Mary appeared on his doorstep. He was possibly a little overwhelmed. Mary and Joseph were probably not the first people he had to turn away that evening. It was, after all, high tourist season in Bethlehem because of the census that year. Perhaps he was a bit annoyed at having his dinner interrupted by strangers. Maybe he was indifferent and tired of caring, or perhaps he was deeply distressed at his inability to provide for the strangers who appeared at his door. Due to the many knocks on my own door of late, I am finding myself identifying more and more with this innkeeper, the most downplayed of all the Christmas characters. And, depending on my moods, I have experienced all of the feelings listed above. But the thing that I find uplifting about this biblical actor, is that despite his inability to solve ALL of the expectant couple’s accommodation woes, he was able to do a little bit to alleviate some of their suffering. He didn’t have a bed, but he did have a barn. He couldn’t do everything but he did do something. The more time I spend in the world of development and relief, the more I am seeing that the world is being changed slowly but surely by the “innkeepers” of the world, those people who refuse to become paralyzed by the world’s multitude of problems, but who find that one particular “something” they are capable of, and do it.
"Alexis is a thirteen year old girl who lives in Durham Region, Ontario. She is in her last year of elementary school and enjoys taking Karate lessons. In fact, she is only one level away from earning her black belt. Like most teenagers, she likes hanging out with her friends and watching movies. After high school she plans on attending university to major in the sciences.
"Silvia is also thirteen. But that’s where the similarities between these two girls end. Silvia lives in Kamalo Village in Malawi, in a small brick hut with a grass roof. Her “spare” time is spent fetching water from a well one hour’s walk away from her village, usually with her two year old brother strapped to her back. And in a few short years she will marry a boy from a neighbouring village and start her family in the same way her mother and grandmothers have done for centuries.
"Alexis and Silvia live in two separate worlds, and in any other scenario their paths would have never crossed. But last year Alexis watched a television program about people in Africa who didn’t have access to clean water. She was shocked to hear that people drank dirty water which often brought illness, and sometimes death. She realized she had to do something, so instead of asking for presents for her thirteenth birthday, Alexis requested donations from her family and friends to build a well in Africa. To raise money she sold bracelets, organized lemonade stands, bottle drives, and garage sales, and ten months later she had raised enough money to build a well. The lives of these two girls intersected when the money Alexis worked so hard to raise was assigned to a well building project in Silvia’s village.
"For the past month and a half, through my job with Emmanuel International Malawi, I have had the privilege of monitoring the construction of this well in Kamalo Village. I have seen the excitement on the faces of community members as they struck water after two weeks of long hours digging the fifteen foot shaft by hand. I have seen the bonds of community strengthened as families took turns molding and burning bricks; collecting quarry stones to mix with cement to form concrete; and paving the outer walls of the well to insert the pump. And I have felt the increasing excitement and anticipation of the community as the well nears completion, which should be just a few days after Christmas. The timing with the holiday season is quite unintentional, but I think it is quite fitting, since Advent is a time of waiting and hopeful anticipation, and Christmas a time of excitement, generosity and giving. And I can’t think of a better Christmas present for these people who have watched helplessly for years as their children fall sick and die from drinking contaminated water.
"So as I reflect on the Christmas story this year, the regular characters will be there, but more prominent in my mind will be the innkeeper, and my modern day innkeeper, Alexis. These two were moved by compassion to help perfect strangers. They understood that despite being only one in a multitude of many, they had a duty, and a desire to help. And they used the resources they had in front of them to meet the need of those before them. Is this not what is required of all of us, not only at Christmas, but all year round?"
Update #4 - January 17, 2008
I’m happy to report that construction on the Kamalo well is now finished and the community has clean, safe drinking water. I was there to visit yesterday and was excited to see the many people gathered around to collect water. I drank some myself and it tasted very refreshing!
All that is left is to have a “hand-over” ceremony with the community. We hope to have this happen within the next two weeks or so, and will send you pictures of this event. If you would like to write a few sentences that you would like us to share with the community, feel free to do so and I can have it translated into Chichewa (the local language).
Watch for more on the “hand-over” ceremony.
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