Earlier this year, a truck smashed through our wall fence. Men destroyed our yard, leaving debris all over our property. They trapped us in the Chikondi Community Center for over 6 hours.

And we all thanked them for it. We cheered, we danced, we shouted, we rejoiced. We even bought them some donuts and Cokes.

Because that truck and those men drilled a deep clean water well in the middle of our property. A dream of ours from the very beginning has now become reality.

I thought I knew just how valuable water was to the Ng’ombe community after being around for a few years now. I know that it takes women an immense amount of physical strength and valuable time to walk around to find an operating well, carrying upwards at 40 pounds of water in jugs back to their home. I know that some children wake up before sunrise during dry season in hopes of finding a well with water, exposing themselves to the danger of being outside in the community in the dark. I know that water isn’t free. I know that the vast majority of houses don’t have running water, but instead jugs and barrels that are used for bathing, cooking, and cleaning.

Water is valuable. Water is a challenge. Water is life.

The Ng’ombe community, where our Chikondi Community Center is located, is home to over 125,000 people within just a few square miles. This compound is still in Lusaka, the capital city of Zambia, a more advanced part of the country. Yet it is estimated that 65% of this community does not have access to clean drinking water.

Because when the good wells run dry, the shallow-dug wells are all that are available. Dirty surface water carrying diseases and parasites like Giardia, typhoid, and many others.

This is the reality for the ladies in our program. This is their struggle. This is the life for their families.

We simply had enough hearing stories of women drinking dirty water or sending their tiny children who skip school so that they can wait at the well all day to fetch water for the entire family. So when we found out that right that very moment carried the perfect conditions for drilling, we decided to go for it. No time to build a fancy crowdfunding campaign, but just enough time to drill this well.

We (this amazingly efficient drilling company) were able to drill down 70 meters beneath all the mess to reach an unlimited supply of clear, fresh, healthy water. As the drill hit the water and it shot up high into the sky, women inside the center who were peering through the windows in amazement cheered. They danced. They yelled out in joy. Because to them this wasn’t just a cool thing to see, this was life changing. This was another way that hope was brought to their lives.

Jessy asked if I would step aside to chat with her during all the chaos of the drilling day. She looked me straight in the eyes with depth, deep joy, and long-battled victory, and simply said, “Thank you for giving me water.”

What seems like another accessible resource to most of us in the West, even fancied up to have flavors and colors and health benefits, is a resource that many developing nations simply don’t have. A resource that our dear friends, students, and neighbors didn’t have until now.

To our ladies at the Chikondi Community Center and the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of families who will now get to draw water from our clean well, this is a glorious gift. A gift of life, health, hope, and a little bit of relief from the many tough burdens of life.

Yvonne dispenses water from our clean water well to this girl coming from school. Look how crystal clear that water is!

All with one giant truck, a huge mess in the yard, a water tank bigger than our car, and a bunch of women who are crazy amazing in how they love each other and care about their community having tasted this glorious hope of their own.

Giving hope and clean water, one stitch at a time.

We need your help to cover the cost of this life-giving well, benefitting thousands in a vulnerable community in Lusaka, Zambia. The entire cost of the project is $7,000. To fund this project, and allow our monthly funds to cover our life-skills training program, we need:

3 partners of HOPE to give $1,000
4 world changers to give $500
10 difference makers to give $100
10 big hearts to give $50
10 compassionate souls to give $25
25 generous people to give $10

To donate and receive a Handwritten Thank You Note from a life you’ve impacted through providing this clean water well, simply click below:

Thank you for making this possible and for partnering with us as we continue to share HOPE with the Ng’ombe Community in Lusaka, Zambia.

With Chikondi (Love),
Amy