Uganda
Uganda Story
After a 5 hour drive on small bumpy roads, we finally arrived in the small rural town of Lira, Uganda. We were met by Jasper, who works for our local partners Joy Drilling. He told me that there was a village close to his heart that has no clean water and was forced to get their water from a dirty water hole a few miles away.
Of course, I insisted that he take us to this place to we could scout it out, meet the people, and find a way to help them. On our way, we drove by several large beautiful sunflower fields, and when I looked up, the sky was bright blue with huge white clouds. Something we never get to see back in Los Angeles.
When we arrived at the village Jasper had been telling us about, we were introduced to a hard working mom named Molly. She explained to us that she had 11 children to take care of, and they were constantly getting sick because of the unclean water they were drinking. She invited us to follow her on her journey of fetching water for her family. We walked with her several times from her hut to the water hole, each time about 2 miles. I was getting pretty tired keeping up with her. The crazy thing was, I just had a camera in my hand and she was carrying a 40lb jerry can and her 1-year-old daughter.
When we got back to her hut, she preceded to breastfeed her baby, and chase a chicken to make for dinner at the same time. I have a lot of respect for Molly. She, like most moms, was doing whatever she needed to do to take care of her children.
We are going back to her village later this year to fund a clean water well that will her and the 400 others in her village have clean water for life. Thanks for your help.
- Jordan Wagner – Executive Director
