In 2005, I traveled with a team from Lake Grove Presbyterian Church on a World Vision trip to Zambia. While visiting the very rural Sikuteke Village, I walked with a woman a half mile to a dry stream bed. In the stream bed was a small water hole–the water was brown with debris floating in it. The woman reached in, scooped the water out with an old hardhat and filled her bucket. I looked at it, thought of my newly born grandson, and asked the woman if she boiled the water before she gave it to her kids to drink. “No,” she said, “I do not have enough fuel.” She was giving this water to her kids. She had no choice. Something happened to me. I felt I had to do something to help.
Since then, many others from our area have traveled to Zambia with World Vision and have had similar experiences. WaterAfrica was formed to Raise Awareness & Funds to make Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH) resources available for rural Zambians. We partner with World Vision to provide these resources.
WaterAfrica regularly takes travel teams to Zambia (at travelers own expense) so we can see firsthand the WASH needs and the solutions being implemented by World Vision, which our fundraising supports. We meet Zambian villagers and hear their stories. We interact with World Vision staff and learn about their challenges and successes. These experiences encourage us all to continue working on our mission to Raise Awareness, Raise Funds & Transform Lives. We are blessed by the generosity and gifts that come from our WaterAfrica Community. Since 2006 WaterAfrica has raised over $3 million, enough to provide Water, Sanitation & Hygiene for more than 60,000 people.
Please contact us with any questions about WaterAfrica. We would love to hear from you.
Sincerely,
Bill Savage
Founder, WaterAfrica
info@waterafrica.org
PO Box 2012 Lake Oswego, Oregon 97035
