When Water is Life: How charity: water and LWF are Changing Lives in Northern Uganda
Imagine waking up each morning with only one goal before sunrise: finding water. Not clean water, not safe water, but just any water. You walk for miles with heavy jerrycans under the scorching sun, uncertain if the puddle or unprotected well you found won’t make your family sick. Every day is a gamble between thirst, good personal hygiene, and disease.
This is the reality for many families in Northern Uganda, but thanks to charity: water funding, this story is changing.
Since the beginning of the year, the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), through its Quality Services thematic area, focused on drilling new boreholes and restoring broken ones in the districts of Pader, Kitgum, and Agago. These are not just construction activities; they are lifelines. Clean, safe water means more than quenching thirst; it’s about dignity, health, and giving children a chance to be in school rather than spending hours fetching water.
What Has Been Achieved So Far
In these first three months of 2025, 93 broken-down boreholes have been rehabilitated, 31 in each district. These repairs bring water closer to communities that had long suffered without it. In addition, out of the planned 30 new boreholes, 28 have already been successfully drilled: 10 each in Pader and Kitgum, and 8 in Agago.
The effort goes beyond drilling and rehabilitation. LWF is committed to sustainability by establishing trained Water User Committees, made up of community members, to manage and maintain each water point. These committees ensure that the water sources remain functional and are well-maintained long after the construction teams have left.
More Than Numbers: Changing the Story
Safe water means less time spent in search of water, fewer cases of waterborne diseases, and more time for mothers to nurture their families and children to learn. It means building healthier, more resilient communities that can grow beyond mere survival.
charity: water’s funding, combined with LWF’s commitment, is transforming rural Uganda, one borehole at a time. And for every borehole drilled or rehabilitated, there’s a family whose story is being rewritten from struggle to hope.
