Part 1 of the sabbatical is complete.
Zikomo means thank you and my heart is definitely filled with thanks after returning home from Malawi. We’ve been supporting the work of charity:water for over a decade and it was always a hope that someday we’d be able to visit some water projects. We were so grateful to make that happen this summer.
Malawi is known as the “warm heart of Africa”. At first I thought it was something that only foreigners said, but as we traveled throughout the country, it was clear that it’s a shared feeling from the people. While being the 15th poorest country in the world, I was able to see richness in other ways. It’s a country of community, beauty, along with all needs of a developing country (i.e. water, roads, education).
We had the privilege of visiting 4 different water projects during our trip. Water really does change everything. We saw a live drilling of a well and saw the water burst up into the air. There was dancing and joy all around. We saw a community come together to organize and take long-term accountability for a water system that was shared with the local school. And we saw the original water sources where all of these communities were getting dirty water within the last 12 months. And we heard so many stories of celebration from (mostly) the women in the communities.
One reflection from this experience is that while I try to be efficient/effective with our giving, a life changed is a life changed… and it’s meaningful no matter what the exact ratio is. I’ve tried to get “the best deal” when choosing water projects (i.e. which can reach the most people for the same donation), but at the end of the day, every story of health and time matters. It’s beautiful and humbling.
If you'd like to know more about charity: water, please watch this. If you'd like to donate and bring clean water to an entire community, you can give here. I'm looking forward to the day everyone has access to life’s most basic need — clean and safe water.
