Imagine

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Imagine with me, this true-to-life scenario. Imagine that this story is about you.

You are a 9-year-old girl living in a rural area of northern Mozambique. At daybreak you get up from the dirt floor, and without anything to eat, you hurriedly grab a 5-gallon jug just outside the hut. Today, like every day, you will be making the journey with your mother to the closest water source, over 3 miles each way.

After your long walk to the stagnant pool of water, you sit for another 2 to 3 hours, waiting for your turn. Then, you carry the 40 pound water jug, full of dirty, contaminated water, back the way you came. Your neck and shoulders ache from balancing the jug on your head. Yet, carrying the heavy water is not the worst part about your life.

In your culture, fetching water literally falls on the heads of women and girls, so you don’t have the opportunity to go to school like your brothers. And, because you won’t get an education, you will not have opportunities to get a job when you are grown.

The, one day, Water4Life Mozambique comes to your village and drills a water well. Although you still fetch water--clean, safe water from a well in your village--you still have enough time left in your day to go to school. You are smart and you are determined to learn. You know that an education means you will be able to get a job when older.

The new water well has helped to break the cycle of pain and poverty. When you have a daughter, she won’t have to fetch dirty, contaminated water. Your future is full of promise, all because of the new water well and the hope it brings!