The two little boys huddled next to each other caked in dust. The blazing midday sun bore down on their bare arms and shoulders, deepening their thirst—nothing new there—yet something was different. Rising out of the ground before them stood a metal pipe bubbling over with fresh and very cold water. They were overjoyed because for the first time ever, they had clean water to drink!

These children live in a remote, impoverished village of 550 people near Rundu, Namibia—where residents have struggled every day to access the water they need to survive.

“If it weren’t for small stipends provided by the government, it’s likely that many families wouldn’t survive,” explains Father Timothy Ploch, interim director of Salesian Missions. “In the village of Ruurumwe, the lack of a local well has been a pressing issue extending far beyond not having safe water to drink. It’s about not having water at all.”

In fact, until recently, the only available water came from a seasonal stream that regularly dries up during the hottest months. And with no reliable nearby source for irrigation, residents couldn’t grow the food they needed to stay nourished and healthy.

“There are no employment opportunities in Ruurumwe,” Fr. Tim continues, “which means no money to buy food, either. It’s not an exaggeration to say that having a local, dependable source of water can truly be transformative for entire communities.”

With funding from our Clean Water Initiative, residents now have a new borewell, pump and water storage tank right in their own village. They have launched small agricultural projects and reclaimed some of the precious time they lost walking to faraway locations in search of water to carry home.

“We have so many generous friends to thank for success stories like these,” says Fr. Tim. “And these stories are being written about communities all over the developing world, not just in Namibia.”

In 2022 alone, thousands of deserving children and families received the gift of clean water—in Vietnam and Mozambique, Zambia and Indonesia, Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria, and Ghana and Pakistan. If you would like to be part of these transformational efforts, you may make a gift to our dedicated Clean Water Initiative here.

Learn more about our work in Namibia.

Our mission works to bring safe, clean water to people in every community where we serve. What’s your mission?