Eunice is now 30 years old, a single mother of three children. Eight years ago, she lost her partner, and since then, life has demanded strength from her in ways few can imagine. Like many others in her community, Eunice grew up walking long distances to collect water—yet even after those exhausting journeys, the water she brought home was still dirty, collected from open ponds fed by running streams.
As a child, Eunice never felt excited about going to school. Not because she didn’t want to learn, but because school itself came with another burden: water collection. Each day, different classes were assigned to fetch water for the school. The journeys were long and exhausting, and most children went the entire day without food because their parents could not afford lunch , so there were no breaks, no meals—only hunger.
Eunice recalls,
“This was a hard life. I had to first collect water before going to school. Then at school, we collected water for cooking meals for those who could afford lunch and for cleaning the latrines. I stayed hungry the whole day. After school, I would walk home and then walk miles again to collect water for the evening household chores.”
The water they collected was unsafe, yet unavoidable. Worse still were the dangers along the way. Eunice’s greatest fear was collecting water in the evenings. The paths to the ponds were bushy and unsafe, and many men showed no respect for young girls. Some took advantage of them. Even during school water trips, older boys used the opportunity to spend time with younger girls, and many girls dropped out of school due to early pregnancies. Education, safety, and childhood were all quietly stolen along those water paths.
Today, Eunice’s story has changed.
She now lives close to a clean water well at Set Free Life Ministries. For the first time in her life, water is within reach. She no longer has to risk her safety, sacrifice her dignity, or exhaust her body just to meet her family’s most basic need.
With deep gratitude, Eunice says thank you.
She thanks the donors whose kindness brought clean water closer. Because of them, her children can grow up safer, healthier, and with more time for school and play. Because of them, water is no longer a daily struggle—but a blessing.
Access to clean water did not just save time for Eunice.
It restored hope, protected lives, and gave a future to a family.