UNFORGETTABLE WATER NEED

She had been in school the morning we came to her village on a trip assessing the water needs in some of the most untouched villages in Burkina Faso. There is easily 75-100 children in her elementary classroom. When she gets thirsty she doesn’t go ask her teacher if she can go get a drink of water. Why bother? They will never even know she is gone. She’s not being mischievous, just thirsty.

There is one well in this village. Though we don’t know the exact population it is well beyond the capacity of one. Rather than wait her turn at the water pump, or elbow her way to the front, this sweet, meek little girl goes for a walk. On this day, the distance she walked away from the school and the local drilled well is not the issue. What’s more important is what she found for a water. It was just a local cistern. A hole in the ground designed to catch some rain from the months before and be used for whatever is convenient like bathing, or watering animals. The bottle she was carrying to fill says it all; this water should not be drunk.

I think of this little girl often. She is another face of the water need all over Burkina Faso. Engage Burkina and our partners are currently raising funds to bring drilled wells to this and as many other villages in this region as we can later on in 2014.

Help us bring hope and and the water that sustains life to villages just like this one.