Maranatha Volunteers International’s crew in Zambia recently brought water to the new Mwami Adventist Secondary School using a unique approach. After completing a large Education and Evangelism Center to launch the new high school, Maranatha set out to supply the campus with water for drinking, hygiene, and landscaping. A nearby well had been dug 900 meters away, but it didn’t produce enough for all of the school’s needs. Instead, Maranatha got creative, in partnership with local leadership at the Mwami Adventist Hospital, to tap into an existing source fed by government wells and natural springs at the top of a hill more than half a mile away. Using gravity, water could flow down the hill to the campus.
This required intense labor by our in-country team to dig a trench for the pipeline, in some places more than six feet deep, to maintain the flow of gravity when ridges in the hill blocked the way. The team constructed junction boxes to access connections between different lines, as well as a water tower to house a large tank, filled entirely by gravity.
The entire project took a month’s time, and Maranatha’s country director for Zambia, David Woods, says it was essential for this new institution to thrive. “A large school like this just didn’t exist before, so the need for water was crucial for its future. Between cleanliness, landscaping, and other needs, we knew we had to get enough water to campus. Grateful that it existed, even at some distance, and grateful that we could tap into it.” The new water system will be used for a wide variety of uses, including some flush toilets in the bathrooms, and can be used for additional school infrastructure in the future.
Maranatha worked in Zambia from 2009-2015, completing hundreds of projects. In 2018, Maranatha returned to Zambia in response to a request for more churches, schools, and water wells across the country.