The Zambia Water Project addresses the clean drinking water needs of Zambia’s rural population from project sites in Ndola, Lusaka, and Kasempa. In many rural areas of Zambia, shallow water wells with hand pumps dug many years ago provide the only source of available drinking water. Many of these hand pumps have fallen into disrepair. Often, small children and women are required to walk several miles up to five times daily to reach a working well. If an operational hand pump is not available, many people have no choice but to drink from surface water sources contaminated by human waste and garbage, causing great sickness and death in many instances. The repairing of wells, drilling of new wells, and the manufacturing and distribution of biosand filters provides a sustainable source of clean drinking water to those in need, helping to reduce death and disease due to water-related illness. The Zambia Water Project was started in March 2006, and is implemented at the point of need through a partnership with Seeds of Hope International Partnerships (SHIP).
Zambia is a landlocked country located in Southern Africa. A little larger than the state of Texas, Zambia features some of the most famous sites on the continent, including Livingston Falls on the Zambezi River, the largest set of falls in the world. It is also Africa’s most urbanized country with 44 percent of its people living in urban areas. Since a drop in world copper prices in the 1970s, Zambia has struggled with poverty. In recent years, however, the government has enacted several initiatives aimed at reducing dependence on the copper industry and improving economic stability. Since 1964, Zambia has been a democratic republic and is divided into nine provinces
