When the hand pump on their well broke again, and no one had the replacement parts or know-how to repair it, the more than 1,500 people living in the Nigerian village of Sabudu were very desperate.
Their only remaining water source was a creek where wandering animals often drank – and defecated. But the villagers had no choice but to trek through the bush each day to bring home basins of water so dirty that most Canadians would gag at the thought of drinking it.
Like millions of other surface-level water sources, this pond contains pathogens that cause potentially deadly diseases. Someone – usually a child – is dying every 30 seconds in the developing world from diarrheal diseases caused by unsafe water and inadequate sanitation.
In Sabudu, a Christian missionary reached out to Lifewater to tell us of the community’s dire need for a functioning hand pump. We were delighted to quickly replace the pump with a much more durable version so children and adults no longer risk their lives by drinking dirty creek water.
“We now have good drinking water in our community by your help,” the villagers told us later. “God bless you all.”
And may God bless our donors who make this life-saving work possible in Africa and Haiti.
