by Komlan Koudadje, Vice-President
Bonding with Children Foundation
Bringing water back to the Kuvé community is probably not the biggest challenge Bonding with Children Foundation ever faced but it still is a great accomplishment that warms our hearts.
My name is Komlan. I'M 42 years old. In 2016, I met Victor at a Walmart in Des Moines, Iowa. Victor was a classmate of mine in high school. I was glad to see him again after 20 years.Together we decided to pool our resources and work on some projects as a nonprofit.
Our very first project took us to Kuvé, a village of about 2,000 people. It was in May, 2018. Our team had received a warm welcome from the village chief popularly known as Togbé. The chief gathered almost everyone in the village for the event. Our presence there at that time was to distribute clothes and school supplies. Kids were smiling and jumping joyfully. The Chief however expressed his concern about the need of clean water and drinking water in the village. We understood his feelings and promised to provide it in the future.
Six months later, the people of Kuvé joined hands together with Bonding with Children Foundation volunteers to set up a water pump in the only deep well in the village. In Africa water can be a precious commodity. The village celebrated the new well as a grandiose event. Ladies were happier because they used to walk miles to collect water from other villages. No more worry about sicknesses related to dirty water and diseases common in the village like diarrhea, abdominal cramps, nausea, and vomiting.
The inhabitants of Kuvé had found a source of life which brought back their balance. Some even started to do gardening near their houses. Their livestock began to increase in numbers and generate more revenue to the families. Before the well going to bathe in a stream was a part of life in Kuvé, but thanks to the work of Bonding with Children Foundation which brought back clean water and drinking water in the community that was no longer the case. Previously, students were getting late to school and most people were using runoff water except for cooking. The chairman of the Village Committee for Development said: "We traveled miles to fetch water; now I am so happy it is just at our doorsteps".
The team was happy to contribute to putting a smile back on the faces of the Kuvé community.
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