Teach a Man to Fish

At the dedication for Lifewater.ca’s first well, a Liberian Bishop quoted this well-known African proverb. This dramatically shaped development of our approach over time. Nothing better sums up our approach to training and equipping rather than giving hand-outs and short-term emergency aid.

Over the past decade, governments and donor agencies such as the World Bank have spent up to $100/person to provide safe drinking water in underdeveloped areas. Lifewater Canada does this same work for $10/person by:

• Being run by volunteers working from home to keep overhead under 5% - see our $$ Statements
• Focusing on low cost technologies
• Empowering local people
• With so many lives to save, let's get the easy ones first.

We stretch donor dollars to help as many people as possible by working in areas:

• That are as close to our workers as possible to minimize travel time and expensive truck repairs caused by driving on badly potholed roads
• Where we have a high success rate (80% or higher) drilling wells
• Where we do not have to drill deep through hard rock
• With multiple project sites to make it efficient to mobilize, hold village training workshops and conduct long-term project follow-up

• We Focus on Keeping Costs Down
• Simple Technology is Used
• Local Workers are Trained
• Village Participation is Essential
• Workers Build Wells & Washrooms
• Donors Make Projects Affordable
• There is On-Going Project Follow-up