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Ahakitoogo
417 people
Project Completed
“For the first time since my children were born, they have gone months without falling sick.” - Lydia
Ahakitoogo, Uganda, Africa
- Story
- Plan
- FAQ's
Clean Water, New Life: Lydia’s Story
Lydia’s 11-year-old daughter, Doreen, wants to become a doctor one day. This time last year, her dreams seemed very far away. Doreen was sick often with waterborne diseases, causing her to miss school and fall behind in her studies.
Today, Ahakitooho village has safe water, and Doreen’s dream is alive. Last term, she didn’t miss a single day of school, and she finished at the very top of her class!
“For the first time since my children were born, they have gone months without falling sick,” Lydia said. “That is because we now have safe water from a well.”
Lydia’s family used to rely on a badly contaminated pond for drinking water. Her children fell sick so often, she sold all her livestock to afford the medical costs and found herself deeply in debt.
The mother of 12 and widow estimated that having a well nearby saves her four hours every day.
“I had lost all that I had because of the constant need to raise money for medication, but now I am able to restock goats and chickens,” Lydia said.
She and her family have put the time their saved time mostly towards their garden. It is yielding more profits and allowing them to pay off their debts.
Lydia has even been able to start saving money for her children’s higher education, something that brings great joy to her heart.
“I’m saving to invest in my children’s education up to university,” Lydia said. “Who would have thought that was possible?”
Lydia feels new peace and happiness in Ahakitoogo village. All around her, people plan joyfully for the future.
“This is because we are all healthy and can afford to dream big,” Lydia said.
With safe water and sanitation practices, families like Lydia’s are transformed. You can be a part of a transformation story. Sponsor a village water project today, and follow along to see your impact.
Life in Ahakitoogo: Lydia’s Story
September 2018
The day the baby was abandoned at her home, Grandmother Lydia lifted him into her arms with no second thoughts. Even as a dozen small children already under her care ran around the home and clung to her legs, she smiled holding baby David.
In Ahakitoogo village, Lydia is many things to many people. She is a mother, grandmother, pastor, and farmer. Her husband passed years ago, and she has since made it her life’s mission to love and care for others.
With 12 children of her own (some grown and moved away), grandchildren, and many others under her care, her daily duties begin at 5 a.m. David, now 8 months old, was given to her after his mother died during childbirth.
With so many children, the family needs 10 containers of water a day, each weighing over five gallons. Drawing water from the pond takes away from valuable time that Lydia could be working in the garden, and the children who accompany her are usually late to school.
“We lose a lot of productive time at the pond,” she said. “Children keep falling sick and needing treatment which sinks us further into debt. We cannot prosper for as long as the water situation remains the same as it is now.”
In Ahakitoogo village, it’s common for children to drop out of school because their parents cannot pay their school fees.
Lydia’s daughter, Doreen, 10, recently received treatment for typhoid. She dreams of becoming a nurse.
“The cost of treating her would have been enough to clear her tuition, but now we are less hopeful about her finishing school,” her mother said.
You can help families in Ahakitoogo village today. Your gift will provide health training for each household, plus a safe water source near their village.
Lasting change means more than just building a well. Local Lifewater staff will work house by house to teach healthy habits and share the love of Christ with everyone. With clean water, Grandmother Lydia can send her children to school.
Ahakitoogo is in a very remote region of Uganda
View Interactive Map
This village is on its way to becoming a Healthy Village. The process takes approximately 24 months from start to finish. You can follow along with the progress below.
Here’s the Plan for Ahakitoogo:
Project Ready
Villages are carefully selected by Lifewater staff and wait for program work to begin in their area.
CLTS
In Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS), each village goes through exercises that reveal how their current practices are making them sick, such as identifying all the places where feces are contaminating their environment. This important step equips communities to be knowledgeable about their health and willing to make changes.
Healthy Homes Registered
A home is certified healthy when a family has adopted five healthy habits: washing hands with soap and water, storing and using water safely, building and using a bathroom with a roof and door, using a drying rack to keep dishes off the ground, and keeping the area around the home safe and clean.
ODF
When each household builds and uses their own functioning restroom, a community earns an “Open Defecation Free” (ODF) certification. Each country has their own processes and celebration for ODF villages, and it’s a huge accomplishment towards improved health for everyone.
Water Committee Selected
Ahakitoogo has selected water committee members to manage the safe village water source. Forming a water committee is a key step toward establishing a safe water source in a village. Committees are made up of local men and women who manage the well and collect fees, ensuring the community’s investment lasts for generations to come.
Construction Started
Work is officially underway to build a new water source for Ahakitoogo village. Our local teams are using technology appropriate to the region and geography to ensure the new water source is sustainable.
Village Has Safe Water Source
The new safe water source is now complete!
Clean, safe water transforms a village. Everyone gathers to celebrate, thanking God for the miracle in their community.
Healthy Village
Great news! Ahakitoogo is now a certified Healthy Village. That means the safe water source is complete and more than 90% of the community’s homes are healthy. That is a new future for 417 children and families.
Water Project FAQs
When you sponsor a water project, you are helping bring lasting change. Your gift provides:
- House-to-house hygiene and sanitation education
- Custom engineered water source
- Construction of a safe water source
- Community engagement by Lifewater field staff to ensure change lasts
Lifewater also provides:
- Monitoring and evaluation of the project with real-time updates to donors
- Local church partnerships that equip the church to be the hands and feet of Jesus
- Five-year water source maintenance and sustainability (funded by beneficiary communities on a volunteer basis)
Yes! The village you are helping is a real village. All families photographed or shared from the project page have given their permission to have their information shared with you.
Lifewater has local staff that live and serve among the communities and schools where Lifewater works. Our staff know the language and the culture and are best equipped to serve communities. Because we seek to ensure sustainable water projects and community buy in, we do not allow donors to visit the projects they sponsor. However, we do commit to sending real-time updates, photos, and stories from the projects themselves.
With more than 40 years’ experience, LIfewater is the longest-running Christian clean water charity in North America. Over those 40 years, Lifewater has worked in more than 45 different countries. Currently, our work is focused in Sub-Saharan Africa (Ethiopia, Uganda, and Tanzania) and Southeast Asia (Cambodia).
Lifewater identifies countries and regions that are unreached and underserved with basic water access and sanitation, which means we focus on areas where other organizations are not serving.
Although great strides have been made in the past 20 years to solve the global water crisis, remote and rural populations still remain unreached with adequate water and sanitation. These distant regions are difficult and often costly for governments and NGOs to serve well. Many of these communities feel as though they have been forgotten.
Currently, Lifewater has programs in Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, and Cambodia. You can go to lifewater.org/projects to select a specific water project to help. Because our programs are regionalized and made in partnership with the local governments, we are not able to take requests for specific water projects outside of our existing programs.
Lifewater budgets 80% of expenditures for programs. The remaining 20% is split between administrative/management and fundraising expenses. This ratio is best in class for nonprofits and is why Lifewater has received the highest rating from Charity Navigator.
Administrative/management expenses are used to ensure that we are effective in managing the funds entrusted to us and include the following types of expenses: accounting personnel, leadership time, professional development of staff, external auditors, legal counsel, government registration expenses in every U.S. state, credit card fees for processing donations, bank fees, database maintenance, and office expenses.
Fundraising expenses generate the income needed to do the work that we set out to do. These include the cost of direct mail appeals and communication, marketing projects, donor relations personnel, and email communication systems. Last year, every dollar invested into Lifewater fundraising efforts resulted in $10 of donation for the organization.
Over our 40 year history, Lifewater has received the highest accreditations from the most respected rating organization in the industry. Lifewater is recognized as one of the top-rated charities in the United States by independent reporting organizations, including:
- Charity Navigator (four stars)
- Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA)
- Guidestar (Platinum)
- Great Nonprofits (five star)
- Excellence in Giving
Learn more at https://lifewater.org/top-rated-charity.
Lifewater’s work is founded on the belief that every person is made in the image of God. It is with this conviction that we seek out the globe’s most unreached, marginalized people groups in need of safe water.
Both nationally and internationally, 100 percent of our staff are Christians. These Christian staff help facilitate Lifewater’s Healthy Church strategy in communities. And, where there are no churches, we work with church planting partners to start new churches.
To create Healthy Churches, Lifewater first trains church leaders in foundational theology. These leaders are equipped with the basic story of the Christian faith and the biblical mandate to love others. Leaders learn that stopping the spread of disease and caring for the vulnerable aligns with our responsibility as Christians to love our neighbor.
Second, Lifewater ensures churches have safe bathrooms on their premises, handwashing stations, clean water nearby, and the education to promote health within their congregations. It’s imperative that churches are early adopters of healthy hygiene practices.
Third, Lifewater encourages churches to help vulnerable households become Healthy Homes. Church leaders undergo a training to become WASH (water access, sanitation, and hygiene) advocates in their communities. These advocates are encouraged to identify widows, child-headed households, the elderly, and the disabled to help them meet the health standards of Lifewater’s programs.
Lifewater’s Vision of a Healthy Village strategy is a relationship-first method. This model transforms entire regions house by house, village by village, and school by school. It is among the most intensive household-level work happening in the entire developing world and is closely tracked for progress, sustainability, and overall impact.
We construct custom-engineered safe water sources and teach life-saving health and sanitation practices in local villages and schools in need.
“We are confident Lifewater’s work will have life-sustaining impact.”
– Cary A. Paine, The Stewardship Foundation
Story
Clean Water, New Life: Lydia’s Story
Lydia’s 11-year-old daughter, Doreen, wants to become a doctor one day. This time last year, her dreams seemed very far away. Doreen was sick often with waterborne diseases, causing her to miss school and fall behind in her studies.
Today, Ahakitooho village has safe water, and Doreen’s dream is alive. Last term, she didn’t miss a single day of school, and she finished at the very top of her class!
“For the first time since my children were born, they have gone months without falling sick,” Lydia said. “That is because we now have safe water from a well.”
Lydia’s family used to rely on a badly contaminated pond for drinking water. Her children fell sick so often, she sold all her livestock to afford the medical costs and found herself deeply in debt.
The mother of 12 and widow estimated that having a well nearby saves her four hours every day.
“I had lost all that I had because of the constant need to raise money for medication, but now I am able to restock goats and chickens,” Lydia said.
She and her family have put the time their saved time mostly towards their garden. It is yielding more profits and allowing them to pay off their debts.
Lydia has even been able to start saving money for her children’s higher education, something that brings great joy to her heart.
“I’m saving to invest in my children’s education up to university,” Lydia said. “Who would have thought that was possible?”
Lydia feels new peace and happiness in Ahakitoogo village. All around her, people plan joyfully for the future.
“This is because we are all healthy and can afford to dream big,” Lydia said.
With safe water and sanitation practices, families like Lydia’s are transformed. You can be a part of a transformation story. Sponsor a village water project today, and follow along to see your impact.
Life in Ahakitoogo: Lydia’s Story
September 2018
The day the baby was abandoned at her home, Grandmother Lydia lifted him into her arms with no second thoughts. Even as a dozen small children already under her care ran around the home and clung to her legs, she smiled holding baby David.
In Ahakitoogo village, Lydia is many things to many people. She is a mother, grandmother, pastor, and farmer. Her husband passed years ago, and she has since made it her life’s mission to love and care for others.
With 12 children of her own (some grown and moved away), grandchildren, and many others under her care, her daily duties begin at 5 a.m. David, now 8 months old, was given to her after his mother died during childbirth.
With so many children, the family needs 10 containers of water a day, each weighing over five gallons. Drawing water from the pond takes away from valuable time that Lydia could be working in the garden, and the children who accompany her are usually late to school.
“We lose a lot of productive time at the pond,” she said. “Children keep falling sick and needing treatment which sinks us further into debt. We cannot prosper for as long as the water situation remains the same as it is now.”
In Ahakitoogo village, it’s common for children to drop out of school because their parents cannot pay their school fees.
Lydia’s daughter, Doreen, 10, recently received treatment for typhoid. She dreams of becoming a nurse.
“The cost of treating her would have been enough to clear her tuition, but now we are less hopeful about her finishing school,” her mother said.
You can help families in Ahakitoogo village today. Your gift will provide health training for each household, plus a safe water source near their village.
Lasting change means more than just building a well. Local Lifewater staff will work house by house to teach healthy habits and share the love of Christ with everyone. With clean water, Grandmother Lydia can send her children to school.
Plan
Ahakitoogo is in a very remote region of Uganda
View Interactive Map
This village is on its way to becoming a Healthy Village. The process takes approximately 24 months from start to finish. You can follow along with the progress below.
Here’s the Plan for Ahakitoogo:
Project Ready
Villages are carefully selected by Lifewater staff and wait for program work to begin in their area.
CLTS
In Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS), each village goes through exercises that reveal how their current practices are making them sick, such as identifying all the places where feces are contaminating their environment. This important step equips communities to be knowledgeable about their health and willing to make changes.
Healthy Homes Registered
A home is certified healthy when a family has adopted five healthy habits: washing hands with soap and water, storing and using water safely, building and using a bathroom with a roof and door, using a drying rack to keep dishes off the ground, and keeping the area around the home safe and clean.
ODF
When each household builds and uses their own functioning restroom, a community earns an “Open Defecation Free” (ODF) certification. Each country has their own processes and celebration for ODF villages, and it’s a huge accomplishment towards improved health for everyone.
Water Committee Selected
Ahakitoogo has selected water committee members to manage the safe village water source. Forming a water committee is a key step toward establishing a safe water source in a village. Committees are made up of local men and women who manage the well and collect fees, ensuring the community’s investment lasts for generations to come.
Construction Started
Work is officially underway to build a new water source for Ahakitoogo village. Our local teams are using technology appropriate to the region and geography to ensure the new water source is sustainable.
Village Has Safe Water Source
The new safe water source is now complete!
Clean, safe water transforms a village. Everyone gathers to celebrate, thanking God for the miracle in their community.
Healthy Village
Great news! Ahakitoogo is now a certified Healthy Village. That means the safe water source is complete and more than 90% of the community’s homes are healthy. That is a new future for 417 children and families.
FAQ's
Water Project FAQs
When you sponsor a water project, you are helping bring lasting change. Your gift provides:
- House-to-house hygiene and sanitation education
- Custom engineered water source
- Construction of a safe water source
- Community engagement by Lifewater field staff to ensure change lasts
Lifewater also provides:
- Monitoring and evaluation of the project with real-time updates to donors
- Local church partnerships that equip the church to be the hands and feet of Jesus
- Five-year water source maintenance and sustainability (funded by beneficiary communities on a volunteer basis)
Yes! The village you are helping is a real village. All families photographed or shared from the project page have given their permission to have their information shared with you.
Lifewater has local staff that live and serve among the communities and schools where Lifewater works. Our staff know the language and the culture and are best equipped to serve communities. Because we seek to ensure sustainable water projects and community buy in, we do not allow donors to visit the projects they sponsor. However, we do commit to sending real-time updates, photos, and stories from the projects themselves.
With more than 40 years’ experience, LIfewater is the longest-running Christian clean water charity in North America. Over those 40 years, Lifewater has worked in more than 45 different countries. Currently, our work is focused in Sub-Saharan Africa (Ethiopia, Uganda, and Tanzania) and Southeast Asia (Cambodia).
Lifewater identifies countries and regions that are unreached and underserved with basic water access and sanitation, which means we focus on areas where other organizations are not serving.
Although great strides have been made in the past 20 years to solve the global water crisis, remote and rural populations still remain unreached with adequate water and sanitation. These distant regions are difficult and often costly for governments and NGOs to serve well. Many of these communities feel as though they have been forgotten.
Currently, Lifewater has programs in Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, and Cambodia. You can go to lifewater.org/projects to select a specific water project to help. Because our programs are regionalized and made in partnership with the local governments, we are not able to take requests for specific water projects outside of our existing programs.
Lifewater budgets 80% of expenditures for programs. The remaining 20% is split between administrative/management and fundraising expenses. This ratio is best in class for nonprofits and is why Lifewater has received the highest rating from Charity Navigator.
Administrative/management expenses are used to ensure that we are effective in managing the funds entrusted to us and include the following types of expenses: accounting personnel, leadership time, professional development of staff, external auditors, legal counsel, government registration expenses in every U.S. state, credit card fees for processing donations, bank fees, database maintenance, and office expenses.
Fundraising expenses generate the income needed to do the work that we set out to do. These include the cost of direct mail appeals and communication, marketing projects, donor relations personnel, and email communication systems. Last year, every dollar invested into Lifewater fundraising efforts resulted in $10 of donation for the organization.
Over our 40 year history, Lifewater has received the highest accreditations from the most respected rating organization in the industry. Lifewater is recognized as one of the top-rated charities in the United States by independent reporting organizations, including:
- Charity Navigator (four stars)
- Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA)
- Guidestar (Platinum)
- Great Nonprofits (five star)
- Excellence in Giving
Learn more at https://lifewater.org/top-rated-charity.
Lifewater’s work is founded on the belief that every person is made in the image of God. It is with this conviction that we seek out the globe’s most unreached, marginalized people groups in need of safe water.
Both nationally and internationally, 100 percent of our staff are Christians. These Christian staff help facilitate Lifewater’s Healthy Church strategy in communities. And, where there are no churches, we work with church planting partners to start new churches.
To create Healthy Churches, Lifewater first trains church leaders in foundational theology. These leaders are equipped with the basic story of the Christian faith and the biblical mandate to love others. Leaders learn that stopping the spread of disease and caring for the vulnerable aligns with our responsibility as Christians to love our neighbor.
Second, Lifewater ensures churches have safe bathrooms on their premises, handwashing stations, clean water nearby, and the education to promote health within their congregations. It’s imperative that churches are early adopters of healthy hygiene practices.
Third, Lifewater encourages churches to help vulnerable households become Healthy Homes. Church leaders undergo a training to become WASH (water access, sanitation, and hygiene) advocates in their communities. These advocates are encouraged to identify widows, child-headed households, the elderly, and the disabled to help them meet the health standards of Lifewater’s programs.
Lifewater’s Vision of a Healthy Village strategy is a relationship-first method. This model transforms entire regions house by house, village by village, and school by school. It is among the most intensive household-level work happening in the entire developing world and is closely tracked for progress, sustainability, and overall impact.
We construct custom-engineered safe water sources and teach life-saving health and sanitation practices in local villages and schools in need.
Your gift reflects your trust in Lifewater International. We commit to honor your generosity by using your gift to help further the mission and vision of Lifewater International. Your donation is used by Lifewater International according to the project objectives to provide safe drinking water and improved sanitation and hygiene within the specified program area. Lifewater International is a charitable organization as described in 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, registered in the United States. All donations are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law.
Donations are non-refundable. Lifewater International will honor a donor’s request for any pre-approved program or project whenever possible. In rare occasions where this is not possible, gifts will be used where needed, in accordance with the organization’s charitable purpose. In accordance with this policy, donor’s explicitly release Lifewater International from further restriction on such funds.
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