Thanks to the wonderful people at Food for the Hungry, Matt and I have now officially been introduced to a village in the Mbal district of Eastern Uganda called Marale. The people of Marale are desperate for clean water. Each day the women of the village must spend several hours fetching water from a distant borehole that is not clean and often nearly empty. The water supply is estimated to provide one fourth of the necesary water for the amount of people in the village. To add to this, drinking from this water source is giving people cholera, bilharzia, malaria, and parasites. The people of Marale are trapped in a devastating cycle of dehydration and disease. They need water to survive, but the only water they can get makes them sick. But since the water makes them sick, they have the energy to do little more than fetch enough food and water to survive. This is hopeless, poverty filled, and lethal. In cooperation with Food for the Hungry, the plan is to work WITH the people of Marale to give them a chance at a different life experience. This starts with facilitating the formation of a nine member committee of Ugandans from Marale to oversee water issues from now on. Mostly women will make up the committee because mostly women collect water. Additionally, the village will be expected to contribute 10% of the total cost of constructing a water system. This is where we come in. We hope to raise the other 90% of the funds ($5300) for this water system. We are not simply giving a handout to these people, we are working with them to help them out of a situation they cannot get out of by themselves.
