Imagine celebrating the fact that it takes just 15 minutes each morning to fetch water for your family. For Lina, that small window of time represents a life‑changing shift.

For 18 years, Lina woke at 4:30 every morning to walk an hour to the nearest water source and then another hour home, returning just in time to begin her day at 7 a.m. She and her husband, Jean Pierre, have lived in the locality of Lacombe since 2002, where clean, reliable water has long been a luxury. Lina and the other women in the village used to half‑jokingly call these daily walks—balancing heavy buckets on their heads—their “daily exercise.”

A Life-Changing Distance

Lina’s routine changed when World Renew supported the construction of a water catchment area in Lacombe. “Now I only need 15 minutes,” she says, “to get the water to my house. This is a big change in my life!”

Access to water so close to home has transformed daily life for families like Lina’s, freeing up hours each day that were once consumed by the simple task of collecting water.

Shared Access, Lasting Impact

World Renew also helped establish local oversight for the new water supply. A community Water Committee now manages the catchment area, ensuring that every family has equal access and that the water source is well maintained. Lina pays five gourdes (about two cents USD) for two 18‑litre buckets of water.

Lina considers the water catchment area a great blessing for her community. With less time spent “chasing water,” she and other women are able to focus on caring for their children, managing livestock, and tending gardens and crops—investments that strengthen households today and build resilience for the future.