Thank You To Everyone Who Drank Life Water at Glastonbury 2024

“My name is Achol Akuoc Wol. I’m a 49-year-old mother. I gave birth to five children—two boys and three girls—and they are all alive. Three of my children are in school—one boy and two girls—but it is very difficult for me to send them regularly. We have no cows to sell in the market, and we have no money. My husband is a farmer, but he has no way to earn money. Because of this financial crisis, my children cannot attend school every year; they sometimes go years without schooling. For a living, I cultivate different types of crops, both cash crops and food crops. Food crops are grown for our own consumption, while cash crops are sold in the market. After earning money, we buy food and other necessities for the children, such as clothes. As I speak to you now, we have suffered in the past days when our well broke. We had no clean water for drinking or cooking in our homes, and it was difficult to survive without adequate water for our needs and our domestic animals. As you see, it is the dry season, and there is nowhere else to get water except from this well. Domestic animals like cows, goats, and sheep—kept by our community—are now suffering due to a lack of water. It has been more than a week without water, and some animals have already died, especially the young ones who cannot move long distances in search of water. We are also farmers who plant vegetables like tomatoes and eggplants, among others, but they have now dried up due to a lack of water. These vegetables are important for both consumption and selling in the market to earn money. Now that our well is working again, people feel happy and relieved. We are no longer suffering from thirst, and our animals will not either. When water is available, you are free to drink, cook, bathe, and wash your clothes and utensils every day.”

Achol Akuoc Wol, Community Member.

This project was undertaken as part of our campaign of projects that actively reduce carbon emissions. This project helped the community save their much needed wood which was previously being burnt daily to boil water. This project has also eliminated the many thousands of hours previously spent on walking to collect water.