An international charity which began in a Wiltshire hotel nearly ten years ago is on track to transform a quarter of a million lives.

WellBoring, which marks its first decade in June 2021, has announced on World Water Day 2021 (22nd March) that it is on course to deliver 250 functioning school wells by the end of the year. Starting in the Kisumu County of Kenya, the charity’s work has expanded into eastern Kenya and Uganda as well as creating fundraising foundations in the USA and Germany.

Nigel Linacre, chairman of WellBoring, said: “When WellBoring started ten years ago we quietly hoped it would grow and grow and in turn help more and more people.

“Looking back over the past decade, it is humbling to see such a simple idea transform so many lives and continue to do so. And it is through big calendar dates like World Water Day we are reminded that there are big problems still out there that won’t go away unless we keep tackling them.

This is the easiest way to make the biggest difference to the poorest people in the world, with the gift of clean water.”

WellBoring is a UK charity created nine years and nine months ago and has got safe water to more than 150 primary schools.

WellBoring drills small boreholes into aquifers, creating wells operated by simple handpumps, as well as reviving broken wells back to operational status.

Creating wells at schools means more pupils attend and school results improve, with non-attendance falling by an average of 29 per cent with children motivated to go to a school where they won’t get sick from water-borne diseases.

During the coronavirus pandemic, soap was bought in bulk and distributed to 50,000 households at the school wells.

Each well costs just £5,000 and improves about 1,000 lives. Working together, engaging local communities who become partners in the solution, WellBoring aims to help a half a million people get safe water, making a difference for decades.

For more visit https://www.wellboring.org/