By 2005, Lifewater had learned the importance of pump ownership. As part of the deliberate shift to community investment and commitment to long-term project maintenance, Lifewater no longer put any sponsorship information on wells. Putting sponsor names or dedications on wells unintentionally identified those names as the well owners.
Earlier that year, two elderly widows decided to sponsor a well in memory of their beloved husbands. They sent in the sponsorship funds, and then went one step further by wanting to go to Kenya to see the well and participate in its dedication.
The well was drilled, the widows flew to Kenya and were thrilled to see the well and meet the people who were receiving the safe drinking water. As part of the well dedication ceremony, they showed everyone large framed photos of their husbands, told the villagers about the men, and then placed a memorial plaque beside the pump. They came back to Canada thrilled with the whole experience.
A few months later, Lifewater received a panicked phone call from the women. They had just received a long-distance phone call from the villagers who were calling to inform the widows that their husbands’ pump was broken, and could they please come back to Kenya to fix it!
Our Kenya team helped fix the pump, but it took years for the villagers to adjust their thinking from the well being owned by those white-haired Canadians to the well being owned by themselves. Even after the widows died, the villagers still did not consider the pump as their own.
It was only when a “Deed of Pump Ownership Transfer” with official stamps and seals was made and delivered to the village chief did they finally take responsibility for maintaining the pump!
