Clean water for 1 new person every 10 seconds

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What started as a normal day for Brian, a 12-year-old boy from Northern Zambia, ended as a nightmare. “I was bitten by a snake while trying to draw water,” he says.

Brian is the second born in a family of six. He lives with his parents, two brothers and a sister in a remote  and  sparsely  populated  community  in  World  Vision’s Mwamba Area Program. Like most children his age, Brian loves school and is currently in the third grade at a local primary school in his village. For a long time, Brian’s village lacked a proper water source. His entire community  depended  on  water  from  unprotected  hand  dug  wells.  The  water  in  the wells was turbid and unfit for human consumption. “The water used to look reddish and had [a] bad smell,” he says. “We had no choice but to drink it because that was the only water we had,” Brian adds.

As if drinking dirty water was not bad enough for the inhabitants of their village, the water source itself was unsafe. A lot of families in the village often experienced misfortunes as a result of drawing water from the well. Brian’s family was not an exception. “I used to have another sister named Brelina. She died after slipping and falling into the well,” Brian explains.

Barely a month after his younger sister drowned in the well, tragedy struck their family again. This time, Brian was bitten by one of the most venomous snakes in the world, a puff adder, just as he was about to scoop water from the well. According to Brian, the snake hid in a hole inside the well. “I did not see it but only felt a very painful sting on my left arm,” he says. Brian was immediately rushed to the nearest hospital where the doctors tried all they could to help him. Unfortunately, while they were able to save his life, he lost part of his arm. “I felt sad after the doctors cut my arm. I did not want to go to school or play with my friends anymore because I thought they would laugh at me,” he says. Brian’s arm took several months to completely heal, he had to miss an entire term of second grade. “At some point Brian’s condition became worse. We thought we would lose him, too,” says Patrick, Brian’s father. But Brian’s strength prevailed.  

Fortunately,  calamities  have  tremendously  reduced  in  the village after World Vision sank a borehole in the area. The children in the village not only have clean water now but a safe water source as well. “We are grateful to World Vision for this gift of water. We are now a  healthy community and no longer live in fear,” Patrick says. “My family no longer has to go back to the well every day and be reminded of our daughter’s death,” he adds.