UGANDA - A community transformed
Chief Reporter Jordan Moates has visited a community that got a new well over the summer.
Mongoyo is a community that has been transformed.
This time last year the water the people here drank was dirty.
However, over the summer that all changed thanks to a Fields of Life team.
They were able to build a well, a stone’s throw from a local primary school.
This community is a short distance from the one we visited yesterday, but the differences are stark.
Here children are happy as they play and content they will not get sick simply by drinking water.
It is striking how much something we take for granted has changed their lives.
The school headmaster told us “We are very happy with the well.”
“Before that we were drinking water from wells that were very dirty.
“This well has attracted over 100 villagers here.”
“The school and church community are the immediate beneficiaries.”
“We are very happy and God bless the programme so we are excused from sickness.”
Fields of Life CEO Richard Spratt says the benefits of this well are immense.
“The dirty water was causing high rates of infant mortality and children missing out on education.
“This well will help about 880 children in the school and about 100 households.”
“So in total about 1500 people now have access to a clean water source.”
“The multiplier effect is huge.”
The Northern Ireland based charity wants to bring clean water to a million people by 2020.
That is a massive target, and one they are well on their way to achieving.
It means 1 thousand wells need to be constructed, only another 400 to go.
They are funded through donations, this one in Mongoyo was backed by Comber Company Finlay Fuels.
This is a community grateful for a chance to survive.
The number of people getting sick is down, more people are attending school and the community is growing.
The sad reality is that wells like this could be dug right across Uganda.
Communities are literally walking on water.
For 6 thousand pounds and a week’s work a village could be transformed.