Marion Medical Mission

 I volunteer with Marion Medical Mission. They operate in Malawi, Tanzania, and Zambia. They started in 1989 or so helping to supply hospitals in Africa with machines and medications and realized that if they could get people access to clean water there would be about 50% less sick people in the hospitals. Now they work with Africans (all but about 3 paid positions are in Africa) to help install protected water sources out in villages.

The organization trains people from the villages to take care of the well as well as how to build it and then fix it when it breaks.  They are hand dug, lined with bricks and covered with a concrete cap. When we (volunteers) arrive it is to 'help' with the final installation: driving the pumps and pipes to the well site and installing it. We have a dedication service and demo of how to use it correctly and then we take a picture and move on to the next village. 

I say 'help' because even during covid there were over 3000 wells installed each year. We aren't needed for the installation. But we build relationships with people as well as return home to tell the story of how God is working through us and raising money to fund more wells in more villages. The money for a well ($450) pays for the concrete, pipes and pumps - that which would be out of reach for the villagers. The villagers provide the land, labor, sand, gravel, and bricks as well as a small yearly payment (~$2) as guarantee of care and replacement parts when needed. 

I think it is an amazing organization and absolutely love seeing the immediate change that takes places when the clean water comes to the surface for the first time.