Water for Mahove

Imagine spending at least three hours of every day carrying water.

Instead of going to school, you carry water. Instead of watching TV, you carry water. Instead of starting a business, or planting a larger field of corn, you carry water.

You carry water that your family needs for drinking, for cooking, for washing. You carry water in five gallon buckets, balanced on your head. You walk a mile and a half downhill with an empty bucket, fill your bucket at a community well, and then carry your bucket of water uphill another mile and a half.

Can you imagine that?

You have just imagined one daily task that our partners in the village of Mahove live out every day. Mahove is one of the 20 village congregations that comprise Tungamalenga Parish. For the past three years, the people of Mahove have been proposing that our partnership tackle the problem of bringing water to this village, so that a safe, clean source of water would be accessible to the village residents, and so that the people who spend hours of every day carrying water could be freed to use their time in more productive ways.

Finally, we are taking steps to bring water to Mahove.

The Shepherd of the Valley - Tungamalenga Partnership is working on two fronts to bring water to this village. First, in Tanzania, Pastor Naftal and the parish partnership committee have been developing plans. They have worked with local government officials and the projects committee from the Iringa Diocese head office to develop a plan to pipe water from the Kisilwa spring fifteen kilometers to Mahove. The plan they propose would involve SOTV providing funds for supplies while the parish congregation members would provide volunteer labor to dig trenches and lay pipes that would bring the water to the village. Recently, Pastor Naftal and the committee met with the district water engineer, laid out their proposal, and formulated a plan for next steps, including a geophysical survey of the site to determine the best way forward. The water engineer and his team will explore the feasibility of the pipe option and also examine the possibility of drilling wells within the village, and will give his advice on the most economical and sustainable option.

The second front is fundraising for the project here in Minnesota. In April, SOTV's Finance Committee and Church Council approved a strategy for funding the project. This coming July 16 & 17, SOTV members will be invited to participate in a Walk for Water. Bring a bucket and your walking shoes to worship that weekend! Walkers will be blessed and sent out from worship to raise awareness and funds for the water project at Mahove.

You will not only be able to imagine walking for water--you can experience it!

Walkers will have a choice:

• The Tungamalenga Walk is a short half-kilometer walk from the church building to a nearby park. You'll collect a bucket of water and carry it back to church. This is about the same distance that our partners in Tungamalenga walk every day, and about the same distance our friends in Mahove will walk once we bring water to their village.



• The Mahove Walk is a more challenging walk, 1.5 miles uphill to Sacagawea Camp in Lebanon Hills. You'll collect water and carry it downhill back to church. This is about the same distance that our friends in Mahove currently walk, except that they carry empty buckets downhill and then carry full buckets of water uphill that 1.5 miles.

After-walk celebrations will include fun family activities and refreshments. The water we collect will be used for church landscaping and community gardens.

The goal of the Walk for Water is to raise both awareness and funds for the project.

Walkers will be challenged to raise $100 or more by inviting their friends and family to sponsor them as they walk. Every $1000 raised brings water one kilometer closer to Mahove!

There is no registration fee for the walk and donation envelopes will be available before and after the walk. Donations are tax deductible. Information packets with sponsorship materials will be available at the Welcome Center by the end of May.

Do you need another reason to support the Walk for Water?

Water borne diseases are the leading cause of death for children under age five in developing countries, killing more children than AIDS, malaria and measles combined. Bringing a source of safe, clean water to Mahove will save lives.

Plan to walk on July 16 or 17. Plan to give.

Step by step, shoulder to shoulder, let's bring water to Mahove.