Each day, a parade of students lined the road to Twapia’s Mabungo Elementary School, their voices and footsteps punctating the early morning quiet. Like students everywhere, the children carried pencils, notebooks, and their mothers’ reminders to have a good day. Unlike their counterparts in most other places, these students also carried water to school. The jerry cans and buckets these students brought from home were the school’s only source of water. On days when the water they provided was not enough, classes were cancelled, classrooms locked up, and the students were sent home. Back down the road, but this time it was in cheerless procession away from the place that could unlock their promise. To make matters worse, due to poor knowledge about hygiene and sanitation, the children were returning home with containers that had been contaminated by use in the school’s bathrooms, spreading sickness to their families.

When word of the school’s situation reached the government, they were offered a seemingly impossible ultimatum: get a viable water source, or close the school. In August 2009, Seeds of Hope drilled a bore-hole for the school, allowing it to remain open. Teachers no longer worry that their ability to educate Zambia’s prospective future leaders will only be as consistent as their access to an uncertain water source.

And students, no longer bearing the literal burden of the water problem, are now free to step into the fullness of their potential.

Access to safe water is a key to educational development in Twapia and throughout the developing world. Students and teachers lose thousands of hours each year to school closures, absences caused by water-borne diseases, and time spent collecting water. Douglas Alexander, the UK’s Secretary of State for International Development says, “We forget just how fundamental water and sanitation is to human dignity, to human decency, and to aspirations of people across the developing world.” Let’s keep working together with the people of Southern Africa/Zambia, telling them that we have not forgotten, and will continue partnering with them to bring health and hope to the next generation through safe water and education.