Annual Zambia Campaign: A History of Our Partnership

Curious about our history of partnership in Zambia? In 2010, former Living Water Project board member Caroline Martin was volunteering as a clinical supervisor with Harding University’s Speech Pathology group at Zambia’s Namwianga Mission. As she was riding to the airport to return to the United States, she struck up a conversation with her driver. Caroline asked him if any villages in the area needed clean water, and he replied that yes, there was a dire, practically unlimited need.

The driver was Shadreck Sibwaalu, a native Zambian who has managed the well-building work of the mission since 2004. That conversation began a fruitful partnership that continues to today. Since 2011, Living Water has partnered with the Namwianga Mission to oversee the construction of 103 water wells, with more than $400,000 committed to clean water projects.

For more about the Living Water Project’s Zambia connection, read Caroline’s first-hand account on this previous blog post, and watch a presentation from Board Member Kevin Colvett in this YouTube video.

Please consider being a part of this year's Zambian campaign—and help us get closer to our $25k goal! Donate at this link.


Annual Zambia Campaign Gets Creative Boost From Pella, Iowa

The Living Water Project is excited about kicking off our annual Zambia Campaign. We set an ambitious goal this year—$25k—but we're excited to announce that we're already 1/3 of the way there!

Thanks to an incredible $8,400+ donation from Faith Church in Pella, Iowa, where a Sunday School class collected donations over this past winter and spring, new wells will soon be a reality in Zambia.

Don't miss this local news video detailing church members' creativity in fundraising. We had never imagined fundraising through a snow and ice sculpture, but it was obviously very effective! We’ll never forget the ingenuity and generosity of the Wiersma family!

Please consider adding your donation to that of our friends in Pella—these funds will be put to work right away for the people of Zambia!

It’s easy to donate—click this link.

LWP's Water Walk on May 22: An Interactive Experience & Community Celebration

Please mark your calendars for our Water Walk on Sunday, May 22. The event will be held at Otter Creek Church of Christ's Brentwood campus from 1–3 p.m.

Spend a fun afternoon with friends learning more about the Living Water Project's global partners and water projects—past and present. You'll also have the chance to experience a glimpse of what the water-gathering experience is like for millions of people around the world. And yes, we'll also have refreshments!

Cool Water on a Hot Day: A Look Back at LWP Work in Niger

You’ll enjoy the photo above and below from 2015, when we partnered with Final Command Ministries to fund several wells in Niger, not far from the Sahara Desert. One of the wells was drilled in the village of Mayanga Gourma. For the well dedication ceremony, the women wore stunning traditional African clothes, and guests were welcomed with great hospitality. The temperature that day was over 110 degrees, and the new source of clean water was immediately put to good use!

Well Dedication Day

Villagers in Mayanga Gourma in Niger celebrate well dedication day!

LWP Supports Exile International's Peace Lives Center With Water Project

While in the Democratic Republic of Congo in April 2022,, Living Water Project (LWP) board member Jon Lee visited Exile International’s Peace Lives Center in the city of Goma, where rescued child soldiers are being empowered to become leaders for peace.

LWP funded a rainfall catchment system at the Peace Lives Center in 2013, which consists of two 10,000 liter tanks and one smaller one for cooking, cleaning and handwashing. Thanks to donors like you, former child soldiers have access to clean water while being served, rehabilitated and taught the peaceful message of Christ.

LWP Sponsors Rainfall Catchment Systems in Democratic Republic of Congo

In April 2022, Living Water Project (LWP) board member Jon Lee traveled from the city of Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where he was on the ground connecting with our partners who oversee the LWP-sponsored water work there, both at Pinson School and Exile International.

The DRC is currently our only partnering country where drilling for wells is not possible due to volcanic rock beneath the surface. Instead of a well, we funded two rainfall catchment systems at Pinson School, the first one in 2015 and the second in 2021. That system consists of two 10,000 liter tanks that capture and store some of the abundant rainwater through a gutter system around the buildings. The catchment systems are the main water source for the 900+ students at Pinson School, plus several hundred more residents in the surrounding village. Due to the availability of clean drinking water, the Christian school has become well-known in the area and is a light in its community.

The yellow jugs pictured are 5-gallon cans for the students and their families to collect their water. After school ends at 1 p.m., the water becomes available to anyone in the community.

Pinson School is 1/4 mile down the road from our friends at Exile International. There is a special relationship between Pinson and Exile, as several Exile kids also attend the school.

World Water Day 2022: Help Living Water Project Go With the Flow

The photo above is from LWP Board Member Kevin Colvett's recent trip to Guatemala, where the Living Water Project and Lipscomb University’s Peugeot Center engineering students are partnering with nonprofit ADICAY on a water project serving more than 1,000 people. The project officially broke ground in January 2022.

"People are moving several hundred thousand pounds of cement, rock, sand and iron on their backs to build this project, and they will be digging by pick and shovel over six miles of trench to bury the pipe 2.5 feet in the ground," Kevin says. "It's an incredible amount of work. But we have had such an incredible reception and encouragement from the three communities this project will serve."

You can be a part of funding this water project and future work in Guatemala and around the world. Please consider donating to LWP in honor of World Water Day! https://www.livingwaterwells.org/donate

World Water Day 2022: What You Can Do to Prevent Groundwater Contamination

Below ground is 99% of the world's readily potable drinking water. Human activity above ground can have severely negative effects on that water source.

Groundwater pollution happens when pollutants are released into the ground, and over time they move through the soil and end up in natural underground reservoirs called aquifers. Some pollutants can develop naturally, such as decaying matter, minerals and metals, but contamination by man-made toxins, such as gasoline, pesticides and household chemicals, are largely preventable. These toxins can lead to extremely negative health effects in both the people and animals who depend on the water tainted by them.

Fortunately, the communities where the Living Water Project partners to dig wells typically do not have the same kinds of contamination as the industrialized world. The wells installed with help from LWP are deep enough to evade seepage from pit latrines. Plus, chemical testing is required before LWP arrives in a new area for drilling. Additionally, all wells are built with a wellhead protection area to keep out contaminants at the well opening. This water is safe to drink.

And while most of us reading this drink water purified by treatment plants, it is still important to prevent groundwater pollution wherever we can. One way you can prevent groundwater contamination is by disposing of hazardous materials (unused paint, household cleaners, motor oils, etc) at a hazardous waste disposal site. Simply do a Google search of “hazardous materials disposal site near me” and dispose of unwanted items there rather than putting them in the curbside trash or pouring out into your yard. It’s a little extra work, but isn’t cleaner soil, cleaner water and a cleaner planet worth it?

World Water Day 2022: Reflections on a Blessed Childhood

The following post was written by Lynn Mott, Living Water Project Board Member, about her childhood on a farm, where her family’s water didn’t magically come from a tap drawn from a city’s waterworks.

I grew up on a farm that was miles from the nearest water line, so water was always a problem. We were always scared of running out, but I didn’t realize how blessed we were. 

My family was far from rich, but we had resources to deal with the problem. My father was able to drill wells, run a water line from a spring to the house, and install a cistern to collect and store rainwater. Even when those water sources all dried up during long summer droughts, we were able to buy water and have it delivered to the house.

Millions of people in this world aren’t so blessed. They live in remote villages where water is harder to find. Women and girls often must walk several miles to find a spring or other open source of water. Their water supply is limited to whatever they can carry. As they trudge home under the weight of a couple of buckets of water, they have no idea that plenty of fresh, clean groundwater usually is right beneath their feet. 

Groundwater underlies the earth’s surface almost everywhere—beneath oceans, hills, valleys, mountains, lakes and even deserts. It’s not always easy to access, but the water is there, essentially everywhere, if you can dig deep enough.

That’s where The Living Water Project enters the picture. LWP teams identify likely spots to access groundwater near a village and provide well drillers, pipe and pumps to make that water more readily available to villagers.