During my homestay at training, we worked on building a well. Here's the initial stage of removing muddied water before digging a deeper hole.
After filling up the bottom with rocks, we line the well with bricks and cement.
This wasn't in my village but this is what the final product of a safe borehole looks like. All the boreholes in Malawi look pretty much like this, including the one in my village. These are the villagers gathering around to celebrate the completion of a borehole!
But this is what happens when the community doesn't take care of their borehole well. The water from the pump drains out into another hole (thus dubbed an "unprotected well"), creating standing water, which allows mosquitoes to breed. And guess what? Mosquitoes carry the malarial virus that results in the number 2 deaths for under-5 children. See how something as simple as chlorinating your water or covering standing water can do to save lives?
