Wells for Malawi.
Back in 2010 a short time after Oldpark amalgamated with Immanual a fund was set up to do Missionary work in Malawi. This fund was called “The African Fund” in our accounts. This fund supports one scheme among others, to build shallow wells for the people who live in distant parts of the bush in Malawi, many miles from a source of drinking water.
We have all seen on television the sort of water that people use for drinking, green, grey filthy stagnant water in which the animals stand in and use. As this is the only source of water, humans must use it. The result is that a lot of water born diseases are ripe and usually causes severe illness and to young children death.
Marion Medical Mission in America have volunteers that go for up to three weeks in September and October paying their own fares, to Malawi and help to transport materials from dawn to dusk to the well head. In the meantime the villagers have dug a very deep hole under the supervision of a Field Operative, collected stones and sand and lined the well with homemade bricks. This work is all carried out in the dry season. They also cast a round concrete top to cap the well and insert a manual hand pump. Water will then seep into the well in due course and supply clean drinking water.
When the well is commissioned by the Field Operative everyone in the village gathers around and the headman of the village leads in prayer. Each well has an inscription to the “GLORY TO GOD” inscribed on the concrete top. The benefit of a well means several things.
1. Time is not spent going long distances to collect water sometimes along dangerous pathways and it is usually the children get this job.
2. Children can get to school if there is any instead of collecting water.
3. Mothers can stay at home and tend small gardens and look after babies etc.,
4. Most important better health for everyone.
To date we have sponsored 231 wells giving 40,744 people mostly children clean drinking water. To date after twenty five years of working in Malawi M.M.M. have with sponsorship supplied over 3 million people (1.8 million children) with clean drinking water.
For further details about M.M.M. go to their website www.mmmwater.org for a mountain of information or neillcranston@gmail.com for a Church presentation.
