I saw yesterday another African ministry post that 3.22 is WORLD WATER DAY. Seems like a good year to start celebrating that one!! We just completed our TWENTIETH clean water source in Zambia. This one in Livingstone.
One of our guys was present for the drilling, so I have a few videos of drilling…and dust…and drilling…and dust…and drilling…and dust… and then THIS ONE! I’m told the voice cheering is our own Matthews, who couldn’t contain his joy while documenting the event, even though he has seen this process many times.
For my American readers, I know this is not the first time I have asked you to imagine NOT having clean drinking water available in the next room, or in more than one location in your own home. That is hard enough to imagine.
But take it a step further, and imagine you have to spend HOURS every day walking to and from the nearest clean water source.
Or even one step further, and imagine you spend HOURS every day walking to a pond or stream and collecting water that you know isn’t clean – but it is the only source you have.
Here at Shoulder 2 Shoulder, we helped provide clean water to 17 communities in our first 48 months of the work in Zambia – and we felt pretty good about it!! But we have now been successful in THREE communities in THREE months in 2025!! AND we have funds on hand for at least another FOUR projects over the next FOUR months!!
At the current exchange rate, we are able to complete these projects at an average cost of just under $2,000 currently. We are currently feeding in 73 communities, and are looking at a wait list of around 30 more to join our program after the upcoming harvest. And nearly all of these communities are in need of a better clean water source. How long could you change one American life with a $2,000 gift? A month? These clean water sources change an entire community for years!
As I told one of our Zambian partners in January, 2021, when asked how long we hope to continue sharing food into the deficit there, “We plan to continue as long as funds are provided!” Back then I had no idea we would be sharing with 2,200 households a month by the fifth year! Now I am thinking that same thought as relates to clean water. As long as we have funding, I believe our guys can manage AT LEAST one new clean water source a month. I don’t want to get too crazy, but if we had the funding, we could likely do more. For now, wouldn’t it be incredible to have provided TWELVE communities with clean water sources during 2025 when we reach the end of the year?
