In West Africa, where inconsistent rains and recurring droughts are causing severe water shortages, boreholes installed by World Vision are helping families overcome poverty and disease.

By Justin Douglas, World Vision Mali, and Jessie Lester, World Vision U.S.

“I need water very much; we use water for everything,” says Massara Dacko, a widowed mother of three. In the country of Mali, where Massara lives, limited access to clean, safe water is depriving families of food and income and presenting serious health concerns.

For Massara, no water meant no income and no means of providing her children with the nutrients necessary for survival. Unable to purchase vegetables, she had no choice but to watch helplessly as her children suffered from malnutrition.

'Water is life'

But World Vision recently installed a borehole in Massara’s village, and the clean water it provides has empowered them to create a sustainable income and combat diseases and malnutrition. Thanks to the borehole, Massara’s village has water to irrigate crops, even during the dry season. “My life is very different now,” she says.

The borehole is part of World Vision’s West Africa Water Initiative, which is committed to providing clean water, supporting improved hygiene and sanitation, and helping individuals create a sustainable livelihood. Over the next four years, the initiative plans to drill 450 boreholes and build several dams and ponds.

Water changed Massara’s life by enabling her community to begin a garden, where more than 100 of the poorest families and widows grow vegetables as a source of food and income. Now, Massara’s children are healthy, and she has money to provide for her family.

Like so many in Mali, Massara will never take water for granted. “Water is life,” she says. “We need water to clean up, wash ourselves, and to cook, and to be healthy.”

Unclean water

Sadly, countless families in this impoverished region of Africa are struggling to access this vital resource that would help their children stay healthy. In addition to depriving families of food and income, water shortages can lead to diseases, including cholera, diarrhea, dysentery, and guinea worm. Issa, who has lived in Mali’s Wakoro village his entire life, knows this all too well.

For years, villagers in Issa’s community depended on only a shallow well, and each year, they had to dig deeper just to find a source for washing, cooking, and drinking.

When they did find water, it was usually murky and unclean. “My children got sick with diarrhea when they drank the water from the hand-dug well, because it is shallow and open; therefore, dirt gets in, and I could see little creatures swimming around in the water,” says Issa. Though he could see that the water was contaminated, he had nothing else to give his growing children.

Dangerous diseases

Issa’s children contracted a mild form of trachoma, an eye disease that often leads to blindness. Although the children did not lose their sight, their eyes watered constantly, and they had no energy for normal, daily tasks. “My children wanted to sleep all the time,” recalls Issa.

Even when they are not deadly, the diseases associated with unclean water make it difficult for children to attend school. And without an education, it is not likely that children in countries like Mali will be able reverse the cycle of poverty.

A bright future

But families in Issa’s community have been given a reason to believe that the future will be brighter. Like Massara, they are benefiting from a new borehole and hand pump installed by World Vision. “There is a big difference between a hand-dug well and a deep borehole,” says Issa. “Since we have clean water, my children are a lot stronger.”

The 50,000-liter tank that pumps water into Issa’s community serves more than 49,000 of the surrounding inhabitants. As more families gain access to clean water, infant mortality rates will decrease, and the number of healthy children able to attend school will increase, strengthening the future of the community.

“I am very happy that World Vision has drilled this well,” says one of Issa’s neighbors, who knows what a big difference something as seemingly simple as clean water can make. For families in Mali, boreholes are bringing health and sustainability and transforming the future.