Village Well

Many communities on the island of La Gonave do not have a well, which means that villagers (usually women and children) must walk many miles every day to fetch water. In our visits to many villages on the island, we run across old, non-functioning wells whose communities did not have the resources to maintain them.

Digging a well is one thing. It is quite another thing for us to walk away from that well expecting that it will last. Indeed, research proves that half of all previously-dug wells in Haiti are broken and inoperational within a year after it has been dug. If we are to take our work seriously, we must not be satisfied with quickly digging wells and moving on to the next village. Which is why, as in everything else we do here on the island (starting schools, training teachers, training farmers, etc.) we must do the harder work of pouring into the lives of the communities we seek to transform. Community development must be an integral part of all we do. Resourcing and empowering village leadership to care for the well into the future without the need for outside help… this is the true measure of our work. This kind of well-drilling costs more in the short run but produces wells that will last not months or years, but decades.

Needed:
$17,500 will provide a village with a well. This includes 6-9 months of on-site community leadership development, well drilling, construction of a secured well-house, and a village-wide celebration.