Margaretia Mwale, 60, was supposed to be entering her golden years. All five of her children were grown and had families of their own. She only needed to focus on herself and her husband. At least that’s how things were supposed to be—until one of her sons passed away from complications of anemia, and all six of his children came to live with her.
The biggest challenge was water. It took two hours to collect water from an open creek bed, and the water wasn’t clean. During the driest part of the year, the water would only appear in shallow holes, and she would sleep by the creek so she could collect water in the middle of the night when the holes replenished. Life was a struggle, and she now had six children to look out for.
“I was feeling pain all over my body,” she said.
How would she survive?
In August 2022, The Sonder Project drilled a well in Margaretia’s community, and her struggles to find water are history. “I used to really focus on collecting the water we needed for each day. I can focus on my family now. I have more strength,” she said.
The well in Chimphako, has unwrapped more time and energy for Margaretia to focus on her grandchildren and ensure they have a future. “We are living in peace now,” she added. Read Margaretia's full story.
The Sonder Project unwraps access to clean water by drilling closed-system deep-water wells affixed with manual handpumps to make clean water available any time, any day. Since 2015, we have completed 42 wells increasing access to clean water for over 50,000 people.
In our project countries, only 40% of students enter 9th grade, and less than 5% complete high school.
The challenges begin in elementary school, where students do not have an adequate learning environment and continues into high school, where the financial burden is too great for impoverished families.
The Sonder Project unwraps access to education by sponsoring students to stay in school and constructing elementary schools. Since 2015, we’ve completed 14 school blocks supporting schools attended by over 3,500 students daily and sponsored over 150 students.
821 million people worldwide are undernourished. Food insecurity is four times higher in sub-Saharan Africa than anywhere else in the world.
The Sonder Project unwraps access to food security through the creation of an 11-acre solar-irrigated community farm in Burkina Faso, where we partner with the community of 1,200 to increase economic opportunities and ensure families have nutritious food all year round. We hope to expand this project with your support!
All donations before the end of the year will be matched* thanks to the generous support of longtime supporters, Dr. Sarika Tamaskar and Dr. Reese Ruder.
*Donations will be matched up to $11,000.
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Don’t forget! If you plan on making purchases on Amazon this holiday season, or anytime for that matter, use smile.amazon.com and make sure to select The Sonder Project Inc. as your supporting charity. Amazon will then donate .5% of eligible purchases back to us. It’s that simple.
