Machaze Well Report

With gifts received from Global Ministries, a borehole was dug that serves the village and surrounding areas. More than 200 people benefit from the borehole that has been dug.

The partnership between the United Church of Christ in Mozambique (UCCM) and Global Ministries has its roots in the 1870s when the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mission showed an interest in working in Mozambique. Today, the mission of the United Church of Christ in Mozambique (UCCM) is to serve God and bring people to a progressive religious experience inspired by Jesus Christ through worship, preaching, and the sacraments. The Water Well project of Machaze is an example of how the UCCM attends to the physical needs of people in addition to attending to their spiritual needs.

Machaze District is one of the driest and poorest areas in Mozambique. The scarcity of water in Machaze is a very serious problem and heavily affects women and girls who walk long distances and stand in line for hours to get one bucket of water. In many cases, girls are forced to abandon school to guarantee water for the family. In addition to the scarcity of water, past efforts to provide more access have had limited results because the water table in this area is very deep and wells have not been dug deeply enough.

With gifts received from Global Ministries, a borehole was dug that serves the village and surrounding areas. More than 200 people benefit from the borehole that has been dug. Three dams were also built along the Vusi River with each dam holding approximately 3,000 gallons of water.

The newly dug borehole cuts the distance that women and girls walk for water from up to 25 miles to 12 miles. There are plans for three more boreholes in other communities in Machaze. Additional boreholes will reduce the distance for each household even further.