By Heather Melton, UTO Staff Officer

Each month in our newsletter for coordinators we share a story from a grant site, thanks to our reporting processes. In 2023, we are going to share an additional story here to help tell the stories of where your thank offerings have gone and the impact that they have. We’ll also share how to get involved with or support a project that might be of interest to you. This month, we’re sharing the story of a 2022 grant to the Diocese of Lweru in Tanzania to “Construct three shallow wells in three villages of Muleba district to reduce the impact of climate change.” This is from their mid-year report, as this grant is in process.

Please tell us how the project is going so far.
The project goal is to minimize the impacts resulted from climate change by constructing two wells and planting trees in community lands. We have constructed two wells in two villages of Rubya and Karutanga; these two wells have been completed and the community has started to get clean and safe water. Right now, women and children do not walk long distances to fetch water in those villages. We have established two tree nurseries at Rubungo and Kimbugu where we have grown 3,600,000 trees. Trees will be planted soon because enough rains have started to fall.

What are you most grateful to have done with this grant so far?
The community of Rubya and Karutanga is now enjoying access to clean and safe water. Most parents say that currently there are few cases of typhoid and stomach diseases in their families. They believe that it is because of drinking clean and safe water from wells. Before construction of water wells the community members consumed water from open sources which are contaminated. Therefore, the climate change has contributed to drought and reduction of water volume to the available water sources. This led the community to use contaminated water.