15 Years of Clean “Maji”

As the founder of Well Aware, I don’t take enough time to look back and appreciate the incredible impact we have made in the past 15 years. As a driven and passionate team, our focus is always on how we can be better and do more. But on this special anniversary, I’ve found myself reflecting on the first well and how one little girl changed the direction of my life and inspired what Well Aware is today.

In January of 2010, after we raised enough funding for a water well in rural Kenya for a friend’s village, I hopped on an airplane with 4 friends heading for Nairobi. After a couple days of travel and a little sleep in a hostel our first night there, we were on the road toward a village in rural Kenya.

When we pulled onto the rocky dirt road that led to a large drilling rig, I was overwhelmed with anticipation. The huge metal machine sent vibrations into the earth, and as we piled out of the van and landed on the dry soil, we could feel the humming and whirring in our feet.

After taking in the sights and sounds and feelings, we located the nearby school and a women’s center and walked in that direction. It was then that we saw a very large gathering of women and children who, we would learn, were there to meet us.

We were fully embraced by the women in the dilapidated building. As my very first time inside a local community in Kenya, it felt so warm and joyous, and I could feel that they were eager to guide a tour through their beautiful village.

While we were led around the community, I realized there was one little girl whom I found to always be keeping an eye on me. And, as the day went on, she would start walking closer to me, and by the afternoon, she was holding my hand and walking anywhere I walked. She was very small, and I estimated her to be around 4 or 5 years old. She was able to communicate to me that she was 8, and I realized her growth had been stunted from malnutrition.

She and I were sitting in the shade next to the parked van when we heard and felt a big thud from the drill site. We both jumped to our feet and scrambled toward the drill to see that there was an eruption of water shooting from the dry earth and up into the sky. I looked at her and her eyes widened as she started to scream,

“maji, maji, maji!”

(Maji is Swahili for water). In an instant, she leapt across the safety tape that surrounded the drill site and started to sprint toward the drill, where the water was now gushing from the borehole.

I knew very little about the drilling process back then, but I instinctively ran after her and gently guided her back to the safe area. I don’t think she really understood me, but I tried to explain to her that it wasn’t safe for her to drink yet. The women from the community helped her understand, and we were soon distracted by more for her to show me and try to explain to me about her home.

Later that day, I caught sight of one of the drillers in the distance who was waving me over and indicating I should bring my new little friend. We walked closer and he was indicating that the water was safe to drink now, and she could drink some. I quickly grabbed an empty liter bottle and went to the well head to fill it to the very top. I walked back to my friend, swooped her into my arms, and I handed her the bottle of water. It was heavy, and she was barely able to keep a good grip on it. I held her in my arms when she put the water to her mouth, and she drank that entire bottle of water in just a few seconds.

It was in that moment that I realized how deeply meaningful this water well would be for her and how her life could be so much better now. And it wasn’t just her, it was her whole family and the entire village that would benefit. They would have more children in the classrooms now because they wouldn’t be at home with a water-related illness or kept out to collect water from far away.

The women would tell me in the days to come that they could now grow crops and earn their own income without abuse and harassment from the men in the community. They would also say that their fears for the health of their smallest children would be eased, since their infants are most often taken from them due to dirty water and dehydration.

A crack in my understanding of the world opened up for me, and I would never be the same. It was then that I started planning how I could devote my life to this work.

The years that followed that special day were humbling and inspiring. Mike and I were determined to do this work better. Most water projects in these regions end up failing, and we were laser focused on understanding that failure and building a model for our work that would be successful for the people given our promise for a new future with clean water access.

I’m not a very sentimental person, but I think it’s important to remember how Well Aware came to be. We did not have a large grant or celebrity backing. We had no real resources of our own and, admittedly, very little understanding of water system infrastructure in the beginning. But the small group of us who set it all into motion in the early years shared one key characteristic – we wanted to use our skills, find the people with the right expertise, and do the right thing by each and every community seeking our support.

And here we are today – 15 years later – with incredible success for our beneficiaries and a team of 15 people who understand that, while we address the needs of our communities as a whole, we are guided by them, especially the little girls.