Our Village Well

My friend Alual on her way to the well

Getting water is a daily chore for most women and many girls in our village.

Fortunately they don't have to walk a long distance or haul up a bucket on a rope or scoop dirty water out of a pond, like women in many places in Africa. Our village has a borehole that my colleagues had drilled by a group called Living Water when they began living here six years ago. The borehole provides clean water that literally is a source of life for our neighbours and us.

There are women at the well throughout the day and sometimes at night, too. It's a gathering place where they visit and catch up on news as they wait their turn at the handpump. Sometimes there's quite a line-up and it takes an hour or two before women get their turn.

Parot well, at a "down" time--at peak times there are many more women and jerrycans than this.

The video below gives an idea of the sounds at the well and the action of the handpump.