The rains come in Uganda in extended spurts, typically following lengthy periods of drought. Dry, cracked earth gives way to the power of water, falling as a deluge, day after day. Rainfall totals gather and work as earth movers, washing out roads, tumbling into mudslides. Any local water-catching devices, shallow wells or fresh water sources become contaminated with the runoff, clouding water stores with dirt, trash, diseases and a plethora of microorganisms. As affected residents search for something to drink, they walk through daily dangers, eventually resorting to using what’s available.
The Buhisi Village in western Uganda has been fighting this exhausting battle since the recent flooding in the area. The rivers have spilled over their banks, and the valleys have become a breeding ground for cholera and typhoid outbreaks. They have also shouldered the effects of bilharzia, which is a debilitating, long-term disease caused by flatworms. It’s known as “snail fever” because the worms are originally born within snails. Once contracted, it causes internal organ damage and severe pain, which sends an affected person’s quality of life on a downward spiral. As a remote community of 1,500 people, they have suffered alone, unreached by government relief that tends to remain in the urban areas of the country.
But the reach is not too far for the Clean Water Program of Healing Hands International. Our donors make it possible for us to make the trek to distant areas, to survey the land and find borehole or well access to crystal clear water stores below. The Clean Water Program installed a well on the grounds of the Buhisi Church of Christ, and since then, life has taken an inspiring turn for the better.
Evelyn Sandra is raising two children in Buhisi. She is 35 years old and has spent the majority of her days wondering where she could find clean water. She now declares with great relief, “My long suffering for water is now gone … Thank you so much HHI for restoring life and hope in us, and I shall praise God for this opportunity. I will never walk in the night hours looking for water. My life has been in danger those days, looking for water in the bush, heading to the stream – but now I am safe.”