Mandomona Community, Zambia

The Mandomona community in central Zambia is home to 224 residents, most of whom rely on subsistence farming for their livelihoods. For years, the Mandomona community members struggled to find a safe and reliable source of water. Most recently, the entire community relied on a single hand-dug well, capped with a pump. Unfortunately, the well’s underground aquifer wasn’t properly sealed and contained dangerous contaminants. The community quickly noticed an uptick in cases of severe diarrhea, caused by waterborne illness.

The Mandomona residents were frustrated by what felt like a never-ending water crisis. Without the well, the community members were forced to wander the wider region in search of potable water. Women and children were traditionally tasked with the chore of collecting water and sometimes walked miles to the nearest water points. They gathered as much water as they could carry and hauled the heavy containers back to their homes. What’s more, they couldn’t always guarantee that the water they collected was safe, further trapping them in a vicious cycle of sickness and reactivity.

Clement Hamuyoli is a 35-year-old local farmer and Mandomona resident. He explained the pervasiveness of the community’s water crisis saying, “In our community, severe diarrhea cases were common because of contaminated drinking water.” He and his neighbors longed for the convenience and safety of a reliable well. They knew their hand-dug well had the potential to serve the community, but they didn’t have the resources to rehabilitate the well on their own.

A community leader heard about our work that was being done in the region. When she contacted our staff, she was grateful that they scheduled a time to survey the community. When our team arrived, it was clear to them that the community’s situation was dire. They decided to return soon to give the community a clean water well. They flushed out the borehole to remove any loose, sedimentary rock, cased it with PVC, formed a sanitary gravel pack, and treated the water. Once they tested the water to ensure it was safe to consume, they were able to mount the hand pump and handle, completing the well! Our team also helped the Mandomona community establish sustainability practices to help ensure a future of safe water access. They guided the community in creating a water committee to oversee the care and maintenance of the well. We will stay in contact with the committee to monitor the well’s functionality.

In order to help the Mandomona community members understand how to use the safe water you gave them as a means of improving their health, the staff held hygiene and sanitation promotion activities. These interactive lessons taught the residents effective handwashing, how to prevent the spread of disease, and how to properly store water. They left the lessons eager to put what they had learned into practice, knowing it would change their lives for the better.