Wells for Zoe

Wells for Zoe, a sister project of Small Change, is an NGO operating in the Northern Region of Malawi which was set up three years ago by John and Mary Coyne from Dublin. The idea is to help small villages to develop their farming techniques. It is a hugely impressive initiative which has been making the lives of the villagers much easier. The great thing about the project is that these communities can very quickly become self-sustainable, allowing the organisation to move on to other people in need.

The villagers have learned to build dams and irrigation channels, so that they can farm much larger areas of land than before. They are experimenting with new crops - strawberries, peas, carrots, radish, and banana trees. Rather than relying on fertiliser which can be hugely expensive, they have learned about natural fertilising and crop rotation techniques. They use the food to feed themselves and sell the surplus at the market in Mzuzu. They save some of the proceeds to provide for the future.

Previously many of these people had to walk a few kilometres to draw water at a spring, and this water was often dirty causing diseases such as diarrhoea and cholera. New wells bring them clean water without the walk. The materials for the well cost just €50, which the village receives in the form of a loan. The wells also allow these villagers to develop vegetable plots. The money that is earned by selling surplus vegetables can be used to repay the loan within around two years. In this way, ownership of the well is transferred to the people. Finally some local people are trained in the maintenance and reparation of the well. The result is that in the future, the village is in no way reliant on Wells for Zoe.

To learn more about Wells for Zoe, listen to this interview by Pat Kenny with John and Mary Coyne.

In fact Wells for Zoe is achieving what Ungweru wants to aim for. That is promoting self-sustainability. Funds coming from Ireland and elsewhere to Ungweru may not continue to flow forever, and the centre needs to be able to stand on its on two feet. Hopefully the web design project will lead to income generation for Ungweru. Ungweru hopes to increase the level of community involvement with its projects, but the way to go about this is not obvious.