A glass half full (for half a million!)

August 19th, 2020

Village Water started with a good intention, a little local knowledge and a team of passionate people who wanted to make life better for their communities.


Since then, we’ve all come a long way. Nalitongo village, the first community we supported in 2004 is still thriving. Clean water brought them strength, health and more opportunity to earn a wage. Together they built a school and every generation will access the education they deserve.   

We’ve responded to crises like Cyclone Idai and the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, helping people in some of the worst hit areas recover and rebuild.  

Our local partners have grown and developed, taking on their own projects and becoming a regular voice in local and national water debate and strategy meetings. 

And now, we’ve just reached our 500,000th person with water and sanitation! That’s half a million people living with safe water, toilets and good information on hygiene

This is Angelina and she just so happens to be that 500,000th person. She lives in 25 de Junho Socel Community community in Mozambique. 

I’ve lived here for more than 50 years. I enjoy it, but the living conditions make life hard” 

Angelina and her daughter used to walk for over 45 minutes when they needed water. An old spring in the bush was the closest source to their home. 

It was tiring and time-consuming, sometimes my daughter would be late for school, and we could not get enough water for our basic needs. It was a very difficult situation

Angelina had little time for her crops and with an extended family of 15 in her household there were lots of mouths to feed.   

We rely on what we get from the harvest. Throughout the year we don’t have enough but we still have to sell a bit to get money

The money goes towards the basics – buying clothes, long-lasting and cheap dry goods and other household essentials. 

I would like to spend it on buying nice food and building a good house but there is never enough.

Why should Angelina have to choose between feeding her children or putting shoes on their feet? Why should anyone?

But thankfully, Angelina doesn’t have to make this decision anymore because things have changed.  

A team of locally trained well drillers repaired a broken, unused water point in de Junho Socel – just one of over a thousand in our huge pump repair project this year – and taught the community how to look after it long term. Every household learnt how to build its own latrine with hand washing area and knows the best ways to protect themselves from disease thanks to the training sessions provided by our local partners 

We now have enough water for everything we need. It has made a great difference in our lives. 

We asked her, as she’d lived in the village for almost all her life, what her happiest memory was.   

The repair of the water pump and the building of the secondary school in my community. When I was a child, we didn’t have the possibility of going to school. Now, all my children go.

For Angelina and her family life is getting a little easier, fairer and brighter every day.  

Thank you to all our supporters who’ve made this incredible milestone possible.  

Angelina and her family

But, how did we pinpoint Angelina? Read One Person in the World.