Creating change in Malawi
Access to Clean Water Renews a Community in Rural Malawi Sara Mhone believes that the newly constructed water point in her community changed her life. "Before this borehole was constructed we used to wake-up as early as 1 am in order to collect water for drinking and household use from a tap nearby. Water was inadequate and as a result we had to wake up early and cue for long hours," laments Sara. "The water source could only run for about two hours since it was supporting more than 45 households.
Once the water was finished we would wait for some time for the water to run again, which meant spending a lot of time at the water source even at night!" she added. "During those hard moments we could not sleep because of water problems. But now since the construction of this borehole, through CPAR-Malawi water program, we are able to fulfill other economic household activities and not waste time fetching water. Now I spend more time in the maize field with my husband and we are looking forward to a good harvest this year," states Sara.
The above testimonial illustrates some of the results of CPAR's partnership with UNICEF for the Water and Environmental Sanitation (WES) program in the Nkhata Bay District targeting the Millenium Development Goal of improving water and sanitation as these conditions apply within the District. The project was responsible for drilling 24 boreholes in 15 villages and nine schools, benefiting 2358 community members and 3554 students. Additionally 29 water points have been rehabilitated in 11 schools and 18 villages benefiting over 4350 community members and 5880 students.