Access to clean water is life changing

It's easy to take something as simple as accessing clean water for granted, but for women like Susan in Zimbabwe, access to clean water is life changing. Zimbabwe Council of Churches, one of Act for Peace’s local partners in Zimbabwe, is helping to provide communities with access to safe, clean water.

Susan and her family lost everything when Cyclone Idai struck in 2018 - their possessions, their livelihood, and their home.

For years, Susan and her family lived in a makeshift camp, waiting for a chance to rebuild their lives. When the government finally resettled them in a new community, they found there wasn’t access to safe water, no way to earn a livelihood, and there were tensions with the host community who were already lacking the basic necessities themselves.

"We were happy to be given [a new place to live]. But what bothered me was that we were hungry. We cannot get food to eat here. If you grow crops, they don’t mature because the rainfall is very little. I was pained because there is no water and I didn’t know what to do."

	Above Susan and her family are being assisted by one of Act for Peace’s local partners, Zimbabwe Council of Churches, who have helped provide her community with access to safe piped water close to their homes. Photo credit: Tobin Jones/Act for Peace

Act for Peace’s local partner, Zimbabwe Council of Churches, is providing families like Susan’s with the support they need to build safer homes and stronger, more resilient communities.

One of the ways they are doing this is through life-saving practical projects like helping communities access safe, clean water by installing a piped water systems.

Before the program, Susan, who lives with a disability, was reliant on other people to collect water for her. She was reluctant to ask for help and would often go for days without. But thanks to the generosity of people like you, Susan can now collect her own water every day, significantly improving her quality of life. As well as meeting her basic needs, she can now grow her own garden and raise chickens, allowing her to provide for her family.

But despite the amazing progress we have made together, there is still a great deal of work ahead to ensure that every family in Zimbabwe has a safe place to call home.

Please give today to help provide families in Zimbabwe with the practical and emotional support they need to empower them to build better lives for themselves.

Find out more about the projects in Zimbabwe on the Act for Peace website