A Story of Hope

A Story Of Hope

Hope has a message for you.

Despite years of confronting the daily threat of waterborne disease in her village, she’ll welcome you with a quick smile and joyful laugh. And when you ask her, Hope will tell you about how her life recently changed – forever.

Hope lives in Nyakabungo, a Ugandan village of about 1,000 people, most in mud or brick houses with small plots of land growing things like bananas or coffee. But for years, daily life was burdened by the lack of clean water. She was forced to spend hours fetching water for her family and three grandchildren, who would sometimes become sick from what dirty water they could access.

The pair is joyous due to the provision of fresh water from ACTS
“I would go a week without bathing because the water source was far from my home,” Hope explained. The two-hour trip was so time-consuming she would humbly ask her neighbours for water, but water was scarce for them as well, and they often had to refuse.
So Hope would often go without basic essentials. Because of all the work, Hope would sometimes be forced to rely on her grandchildren fetching water as well, resulting in them being late for school in the mornings, or exposing them to dangers if they went out in the evenings. “I was always worried about my granddaughters being raped,” Hope said.
 
All this changed when Acts for Water partnered with Hope’s community to bring water pipelines to her village. Today, she no longer needs to walk for hours to collect water. Her grandchildren arrive on time for school, and are no longer exposed to the dangers of walking alone down secluded paths. Crucially, typhoid, worms, and skin rashes have all been reduced now that the whole family is able to wash and bathe daily.
 
When asked if access to water has improved her family’s health, she said emphatically, “Yes!” 
Due to the fresh water supply provided by ACTS, Ugandan women now enjoy an additional two hours each day

The clean, disease-free water has touched every aspect of their lives. Hope has done a lot with those two extra hours each day. She now has time for weaving baskets and allowing her goats to graze, which bring in a supplemental income. She also has more time for gardening, a lifeline for all rural Ugandan women and their families. She spends time in the garden every day—seeding, weeding and harvesting so she can bring a little extra to her table. Thanks to communities rallying together – Hope’s and ours – they also always have enough water to drink.

She’s living out the very meaning of her name, with a huge smile on her face.

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