Visitor from Malawi talks about efforts to improve water supply

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DeKALB – In his work as a preacher in his native Malawi, Charles Banda found he often had to cancel scheduled services in rural villages because they conflicted with funerals due to cholera.

Cholera, dysentery and diarrhea are common ailments Malawians suffer from drinking dirty water from rivers, lakes or hand-dug holes in the ground. In 1995, Banda began the Freshwater Project, an organization devoted to providing clean water and sanitation in rural Malawi, with money he saved from his jobs as a firefighter and cab driver. Since its inception, the organization has dug more than 2,000 wells.

Banda addressed members of the three DeKalb and Sycamore Rotary clubs and the Northern Illinois University Network of Nations Tuesday in DeKalb. Clean water projects are a priority for Rotary, Sycamore Rotarian Heidi Wright said, and the local clubs have found the Freshwater Project to be a reliable organization for their donations.

“When you’re working in a foreign country, projects can evaporate,” she said. “With Charles, we know we’re working with somebody with a proven track record.”

The Rotary also appreciates the Freshwater Project’s approach, Wright said, which requires residents of an area to request a well, participate in its construction and accept responsibility for maintaining it after it is complete. The last component is crucial, Banda said, because when local people don’t have ownership or technical expertise, the well is almost always destined to fall into disrepair.

Network of Nations is a student group at NIU that offers camaraderie and services to international students, advisor Ruth O’Donnell said. She was hopeful that those students who heard Banda speak would be inspired by his example.

“I really hope they will see that one person can make a significant difference,” she said. “As much as I would love for them to remain here, if they can serve the needs of their country, it would be a really wonderful thing for them to go home and make a difference.”

It costs about $6,600 to build a well in Malawi, where the average person lives on less than $1 per day, Banda said. His organization has to subcontract the well drilling, since their old drilling rig broke down. The Suter Company in Sycamore donated a drill that works in soft soils, he said, and ideally he would love to also have an all-terrain rig, which costs about $120,000.

Know More

For more information about the Freshwater Project, visit www.freshwaterproject.org. For more information about or to order a copy of the documentary, "Water First," visit www.waterfirstfilm.org.

To donate, make checks payable to Freshwater Project Malawi and send to Water First, P.O. Box 286588, New York, NY 10128 or e-mail Charles Banda at malawifreshwater@yahoo.co.uk.

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