We are indebted to Mike Anderson and John Renouard, directors of the Village Drill charity WHOlives.org, for sharing their expertise, providing training opportunities and offering ongoing support. IFA and DWWD would never succeed without all their assistance.
Aid Africa is an outstanding charity that has many special projects. We originally partnered with them drilling shallow wells, but because shallow wells have inherent tendencies to be contaminated or dry up, we now have our own team of Ugandans, Deep Water Well Drillers, who use The Village Drill to develop aquifer-based boreholes, the only viable long-term solution for clean water.
Kireka Home for Children with Special Needs
Child2Youth – Spring Based Wells
In Southern Uganda water is more plentiful so wells are often created using spring water. IFA has financed for the Child2Youth charity two Spring wells. However, water samples taken by the Ministry of Water Development have shown that the majority of spring wells are also full of contaminants. When heavy rains fall in southern Uganda, water running down slopes carries with it all the filth in its path including feces, oil spills, pesticides and heavy metals that eventually enter into the springs. While spring wells are more economical to create, and most people think they provide clean water, spring wells actually contain a lot of contaminants. Deep well drilling that we do is the only healthy solution and the manually driven Village Drill system makes quality wells much more affordable than other methods of deep well drilling.
Preparing the well site by damming it off
Finished site: notice water continuously runs
Feminine Hygiene Kits
Many of our volunteers have made and helped distribute over 6,000 Days for Girls reusable feminine hygiene kits to schools, medical clinics, indigent villages, maternity patients, and thousands in Uganda’s refugee camps. Our volunteers are trained Ambassadors of health, hygiene, menses AND self-defense. Because Days for Girls will no longer allow anyone to bring DFG kits into Uganda, this work continues with slight variations through Lindy Larkin-Price’s gifted project, Celestial Hands. The needs are tremendous and these kits continue to provide dignity for girls. They are so vital for girls to continuously attend school without missing multiple days each month.
Hygiene Kits ready for distribution.
Acholi Young Adults Assembling Hygiene Kits
Flower Mound High School students making hygiene kits.
Birth Kits for African Mothers and Babies
The World Health Organization estimates that a million African babies die each year, and half a million African mothers die from infections associated with childbirth. IFA volunteers have assembled and helped distribute hundreds of sterile birthing kits to clinics and remote villages so TWO lives can be saved, the mother AND the baby.
Flower Mound High School students assembled 150 kits.
Mpendo Packer – Parasite Removal
IFA has also assisted in the eradication of jiggers which is a parasitic worm that burrows into the skin, causing extreme pain and even death. Our volunteers have helped with the treatment as well as providing medicines, shoes, clothes and fumigation of homes to prevent infestation.
Village women are taught to sew beautiful quilts all by hand
Northern Uganda Women and Children Support Initiative (NUWCSI)
We partnered with NUWCSI, an organization created by American Nancy Cardoza who has lived in Gulu many years. She helps Ugandans develop meaningful enterprises at minimal cost, such as quilts sewn entirely by hand, and EVERYTHING related to Apiaries . Nancy sees that African people are taught principles of budgeting, saving, and other important life skills to help them develop sustainable improvements to their lives.
Scholarships
Our scholarship program ended December 2021. We offered these to a few African students who showed exemplary qualities of leadership in their communities and who had exhausted all other resources. Scholarship students were expected to maintain a high standard in order to honor the donations made in their behalf.
Mittleider Gardening and Hippo Rollers
Practiced in many parts of the world, the Mittleider method of gardening improves food production. IFA helped provide books, training, tools, and soil micronutrients to farmers who showed that they would implement Mittleider gardening. Additionally, we provided Hippo Rollers, which are containers that allow large amounts of water to be easily transported from wells to homes and gardens.
Water Bottle Doll Enterprise
We taught Pearls of Africa Children's Home in Jinja, as well as the Batwas (aka Pygmies) in the mountains of Southwestern Uganda how to make these dolls Both areas have a lot of tourists’ who discard water bottles; They are made into native costumed dolls and sold as souvenirs. When IFA volunteers were in the Bwindi National Forest or the Batwa region, we brought outdoor activities and frisbees for the children. One of the leaders asked if instead of this toy for the children, could a frisbee be given to each family as a plate. This group had no plates or utensils; they would put their food on large leaves.
Piggery Enterprises
IFA provided the initial funds for two individuals to start a piggery. While the initial outlay small for us, most villagers would never have enough money to do this on their own. After building the piggery, they were able to initially buy two female and one male piglet which they raised to maturity. Within the first year the females gave birth to 11 piglets!
Pam with piggery partners partially funded by IFA; it is now a thriving enterprise that “pays it forward” in the village
Pigs from the piggery.
Apiary Enterprises
With training provided by Nancy Cardoza’s Charity, IFA has helped six unemployed or underemployed Ugandans start apiary enterprises. Honey not needed for family use is sold to Nancy’s honey store.
Please Donate Today
IFA has implemented many diverse projects that have positively impacted thousands of lives but lasting change for Ugandans to walk out of poverty will first require solving the water problem, followed by dignity and opportunities for girls, and better health care. We address all these problems in cost-effective ways. Please help us walk Ugandans out of poverty.
Deep Water Well Drillers can provide a well for a village, school, farm or clinic for approx. $4,000. This is more than most villages can afford, but with DONOR help, the drill team (DWWD) is able to substantially reduce the price. The remaining costs are covered through its Community Funded, interest-free loans. Drilling begins immediately after the contract is executed. In turn, the recipients can sell water shares to neighboring people (a common practice). Having total ownership of its deep well is a powerful tool for better health, it promotes safer travel for girls and children who fetch water, it provides a potential source of income and becomes a source of pride. Rather than a handout, this method of developing responsible ownership, helps the people realize other things they can do to help themselves out of poverty. Solving their water problem helps them learn to solve other problems.
