She looked like she might give birth at any moment.
In the middle of suffocating heat and swirling sand, during the hottest part of the year, there she was, in the front row, so pregnant she had brought her mother and a midwife. Mary was determined to graduate from our pump mechanic training and start her work.
No one would have faulted her for staying home. In a country where bringing forth life is the most dangerous thing a woman can do, where only 1 in 5 births involves a skilled healthcare worker, Mary is another example of women's courage.
Mary said this about her determination to be a pump mechanic,
“When I attended the first training session, I had been pregnant for six and a half months. It wasn’t an easy task to learn. I went back home to spend one and a half months assessing wells in my community. When we were called for the second training and graduation, at that critical stage of nine months, I couldn’t turn down the opportunity.”
Five months later, with rains so intense that our only way of visiting Mary and her new baby was to walk an hour through water, we celebrated. Another well had been repaired. Women no longer walked 90 minutes five times a day to fetch water. And Mary had successfully given birth to a beautiful baby girl.
The game of life is officially changed for Mary and the people she serves.
When you give generously to our year-end fund, you ensure Mary’s work continues. We believe women are the best solution to the water crisis. They are changing the future of their nation and, in the process, improving their own.
Thank you for your generous gift to our year-end campaign to fund all operating costs in South Sudan for 2023.
