Donated by Lex Leisure through purchases of Life Water

Hai Mission Community is located 1 mile from the town centre in Yei. Nearby is the UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief) Registration office. Here, Internally Displaced Persons are registered leading many new families to relocate to this community.

Mr Martin Malish is the chairperson of the water committee at Hai-Mission Community. He reported that the number of community members fluctuated considerably in April as many families who were once displaced retuned to this area as they began to resettle. While some of the returnees were long-time members of Hai-Mission Community, many new families settled in the areas as they no longer had homes to which they could return. Before the war, the well was used by an average of 1,000 people, and now served up to 2,000 on certain days.

One community member shared how children in the area often struggled with sickness during the rainy season. While the well was in disrepair, she did not always have the time to wait in line to fill up her jerry can. Water for her family was often fetched from dirty sources with the intent to purify it through boiling. But because everything was wet, it was challenging to make a fire. She was overjoyed that she now has easy access to clean water for her children and her community.

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.