Cholera - the killer disease
Novusile vividly describes how cholera killed children and critically afflicted many adults during an epidemic in the Eastern Cape area of South Africa. This 33-year old mother of 2, tells us how the government set up temporary medical clinics at the time, to help the people fight this dreaded disease.

Novusile walked for miles to their nearest water source, to collect water that was contaminated with disease, parasites and dirt. The knew not to drink the water straight away, but to strain the water through cloths, add 2 spoons of detergent and wait for 2 hours until they could drink it. This took many hours and still the water tasted awful.

JAM provided a water well in their village, close to the houses and agricultural lands. Now Novusile walks a short distance to collect clean, safe water for her washing, cooking and daily chores and spends more time with her family. She loves to watch her children run to the water pump and drink the clean water. Not one of them have had any skin rashes or diarrhea since they have had the new water well. No one in the village has fallen ill to water borne diseases since they have the clean water. Everyone is healthier than before.

Clean, safe water at any cost
Sixty-year old Noxolile Tranisi has lived in the village of Ntlangaza in South Africa, all her life.
Her husband is deaf. They are proud of their vegetable patch they have cultivated since JAM drilled a new water well in their area. Noxolile uses some of the herbs they grow, for medicinal purposes, resulting in both of them being much healthier than before.

She clearly remembers when the cholera epidemic hit their village and killed many people. Along with other villagers, they raised funds to improve their water situation. There is a lot of unemployment in the area and not much money, so they were not able to raise much, not even 10% of what a water well costs. JAM provided their water well, so their money will now go towards maintaining the pump.