Even In 2021, Access To Clean Water Is A Luxury In Flint, Michigan {Podcast}

Ireen Samuel, 8, goes with her mother, Happiness (who is carrying 1-month baby Secret), to do laundry at the stream where they collect water. They negotiate steep terrain to get there. Ireen insists on carrying the heavy laundry bucket and wash for the beginning of the walk, but then her mother takes it back when she is too tired. On the return trip, Happiness is clearly exhausted as she carries a heavy bucket of water and the wet laundry, plus one-month-old Secret on her back. Ireen lives in Central Malawi in the village of Mgololo Kumusi. Her family is part of World Vision Malawi’s Nkhoma AP, funded by WVUS. World Vision started operations in Nkhoma in 2006. The AP, serving 20,000 people with programs in water, health and nutrition, literacy, economic empowerment, and sponsorship will close in 2026. Ireen and her friends walk for water two or three times a day, for a total of about 6K. The walk is challenging, with drops of 300 feet from the hills to the stream bed. The girls walk quickly, traveling barefoot up and down, carrying 10 litre buckets—buckets that can hold up to 10 kgs (22 pounds) of water. When they return home, buckets sloshing with water on their heads, they stop to rest, drinking from the water they just collected. When it gets too steep, the girls tread through furrowed fields, choosing their steps carefully. They are cautious. They don’t want to fall. They know that if they fall, they might break the buckets and there is no money for replacements. Ireen started collecting water for the family last year when she was only 7.