Early on, we became familiar with the amazing work Ruth and Robert Search were doing to provide safe water for schools and villages. In 2015, we heard that they needed a portable drilling rig to bore wells in remote areas, and we decided to help. Together with them, we raised $24,624 to purchase and ship an LS200 Portable Drilling Rig to Sierra Leone. The Searches later founded Mariatu’s Hope, a registered NGO in Sierra Leone. Mariatu’s Hope continues to bore wells, build composting toilets at schools, and run an infant nutrition program that saves baby’s lives. That LS200 drilling rig is still in service and scheduled for over thirty boreholes this year.
Cheering kids in their green school uniforms were thrilled to have a well at their school. This well was funded in honor of the women’s lacrosse team at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois. That’s the Augustana College Vikings banner above the handpump.
Here’s what a grateful woman said: “We appreciate what you’ve done for us. From the time I joined the community, I have never had a taste of well water, only the swamp water. I have given birth to two children which I have brought up with swamp water from when they were babies unto their youth age. Only Mariatu’s Hope and The Water Project have made us to change the swamp water taste in our mouth.” (from Mariatu’s Hope Facebook)