Water for Africa – Malawi

Since our first borehole project in February 2015, Khalsa Aid has installed a further 23+ freshwater boreholes in Malawi. Malawi is recognised as one of the poorest countries in the world. The World Bank reported a national poverty rate of over 50% and extreme national poverty of over 20%.

The boreholes are installed in rural areas of Malawi, where the local population use rivers or shallow wells for their water. The World Health Organisation highlights that these sources of contaminated water are linked to transmission of diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea, dysentery, hepatitis A, typhoid and polio. Globally, over 800,000 people are estimated to die each year from diarrhoea due to unsafe drinking water, sanitation, and hand hygiene but diarrhoea is largely preventable. If these risk factors were addressed, this could prevent the death of 300,000 children aged under 5, each year.

When installing a borehole, the Khalsa Aid team will perform: a site assessment to understand the current water supply, the number of individuals impacted and the distance from the nearest safe water source. The team then oversees the drilling and pump construction to ensure that the local villagers are trained in basic maintenance.

Because of your donations, we have provided fresh, safe and clean drinking water to villages that previously had to travel miles on foot to access water. Khalsa Aid endeavour to continue supporting Malawi through sustainable efforts.