Well Stories from Our Community
Kamili’s Well
After three months, Kamili broke the container and found he had $63, which he used to buy bean seeds and pay for plowing, planting, weeding and irrigation on his plot. In January 2023, Kamili harvested 650 pounds of beans, which he sold for $520. From these proceeds he bought a cow for $65, five chickens for $21 and five sheep for $108. He also paid the school fees for his grandchildren who live with him. Before having a well, Kamili had worked as a day laborer and had little time or money to farm his own land. He says the benefits of a well include not only having water for his household, but manure for fertilizer from the new animals, and an improved diet from the chicken eggs. Now the family always has money for soap, which they used to run out of. Kamili has also gained greater respect in the community because he has generously invited the 12 nearest neighbor families to share his well. Social relationships in the neighborhood have improved since everyone wants to be on good terms in order to use the well.
Kamili is no longer a day laborer on larger farms; he now works part-time for the Family Well Project and concentrates on his own farm, which he plans to extend from four acres to seven. From his wages he saves $5.20 a week, which he deposits with his church microfinance group. In three years he intends to renovate his house with a modern roof, new windows and doors, plaster on the walls, and tiles on the floor. Kamili, age 71, says he is very grateful to the donor who made the pump possible.
What is the economic ripple effect of one little family well in Tanzania? Kamili’s story provides an example of the transforming impact that started with a $200 donation and a subsistence farmer’s wisdom and work ethic. In July 2022, Kamili learned at a church meeting about the Family Well Project’s offer to cover open wells with concrete and install hand pumps. There was just one problem—he didn’t have a well. But that little fact didn’t stop him; he decided it was time for a change. In four days, Kamili dug a 19-foot-deep well next to his simple mud home and soon the Project made and installed a pump with the help of a $200 gift from a US donor. Now he and his family had safe access to their own water.
But Kamili wasn’t done yet; he formed a follow-up plan. He previously had had to pay $.74 each day, at least 1/3 of his income, to have 6 buckets of water delivered for the needs of his household of 9. He decided to save the money he would have spent on water and deposited the coins each day in a clay piggy bank.
Bea’s Well
March 16, 2012 is a day Bea and her family will never forget. Her oldest son, Fredrick, a 5th-grader, did one of his morning chores, lowering a bucket into the open well to draw water. But somehow he slipped, toppling into the well and drowning. Twelve years later, Bea heard about the opportunity to have her well covered and a hand pump installed. She saved up money to contribute the required bag of cement and on January 23, 2024, Bea’s well was retrofitted by our masons. With 7 other families using the well, and the ever-present danger that someone else could fall in, Bea was overjoyed at the thought that she would never have to worry again about anyone getting hurt by the simple act of fetching water.
“Now I can go to work without any worries. I was very scared seeing my little sister draw water from our dangerous open well. However, now she can access water safely from the pump while I’m away,” says 26-year-old Tina, after our team retrofitted her family’s well and installed a hand pump in January 2024. Tina’s mom is paralyzed and unable to work, so Tina supports herself, mother and younger sister by selling produce at an open market and by driving a motorcycle taxi. She adds, “I was facing challenges in the past when I had to draw water from the well before leaving for work, causing delays; some customers even discontinued using my transportation services. But now I can promptly serve my customers since I don’t need to fetch water for the family before heading out, thus improving my income. With the pump, we can get water anytime, even at night.”
