Water is still basic. Let me explain why...
Mary Araba was a resident of Lutaya before civil war broke out in 2013. She is 38 and married with 8 children. The older children left for safety to refugee camps in Uganda during the conflict. But mom stayed behind in Yei waiting for the moment she could return to her fields and bring her children back home.
While she waited, we refurbished.
While she fretted, we planned.
While she dreamed, we dreamed too.
That's why we invested over $100,000 in new and refurbished equipment last year.
We know that peace has come, that hope always rises, and we know that water is still basic for people like Mary and her family.
Mary is resourceful. While displaced, she earned an income by baking mandazi (African donuts) to sell in the market. But her passion is farming. She enjoys seeing the fruits of her labor, and the reward of her hard work allows her to pay fees for her small children to attend school.
As soon as it was safe to return to Lutaya, Mary returned to work in her fields. But the local well was broken.
Mary resorted to accessing water from a murky puddle in the ground that is reduced to mud during the dry season.
But now, thanks to our generous supporters, with a newly restored well, Mary has access to clean, safe water to drink, cook with, and enough to generously water her crops.
Mary firmly believes that by rehabilitating and drilling boreholes, many IDPs and refugees are going to return, and this brings her great joy.
Water is still basic even in the lean months of the summer. And our team is still making it happen.
As you travel, stay at home, go camping, or do whatever it is you do in the summer, help us keep doing what we do with an extra boost. $30,000 is the equivalent of doing 4 more wells. That's 4 communities who will receive the basics of clean water for the first time.
So swim, eat s'mores, have fun doing all of the basics of summer! But while you do, please give generously to our friends in South Sudan so they can enjoy the very basics of life.
Let's put our new equipment to task and bring clean water to as many as possible this summer!
