Walking every day 6 hours to and from the water hole carrying a heavy canister on the head: Elizabeth Leopold used to walk for kilometres, sometimes 15 km or longer at temperatures of 30+ degrees in the shade. “I never thought I would not have to walk this path anymore one day“, says the 47-year-old women with a sigh of relief.  “I have taken this path my entire life“. Her life changed from one day to the other when her own family and another neighbouring family received the cistern from Kolping. The water tanks store up to 10,000 litres of water that falls in the rainy months. That’s enough water for on-site consumption but also to do the laundry and water the animals.  The cisterns are built professionally by a bricklayer with a streel construction and steel reinforced concrete because they must resist a weight of up to 100 hundredweights. Therefore, the cisterns do not only help the families but also create jobs.

Elizabeth’s children are also happy: They used to help their mother oftentimes to carry the water home. As a result, there was only limited time to go to school. All children can go now to school. Elizabeth and her husband want to give their children a good education. “They shall have a better life than us“.