In Tanzania, access to water is mostly limited to large cities. Outside of these urban areas, water scarcity is a serious problem. When ordering a well to be drilled, it's impossible to know in advance how much money will be needed - whether it will cost 35,000 or even 60,000 PLN.
Praised be Jesus Christ!
Dear Missionary Donors,
thank you for all the support you have given so far through us to the missions, enabling missionaries to preach the Gospel and bring aid to the poor. Today, I would like to invite you on a spiritual journey to Tanzania and ask for your support in the construction of deep water wells in the country. In such matters, it is best to let those directly involved speak for themselves. So, I would like to give the floor to Father Adam Cytrynowski of the Missionaries of Africa, who has been working in Tanzania for many years.
"The Lord God called me to get involved in building deep wells through a powerful experience during my missionary service. I was visiting a village to meet with catechists. Such visits usually end with a shared meal. This time it was cooked ugali (in Polish, we’d say it’s a kind of corn mush). In Tanzania, especially in rural areas, meals are often eaten from one pot and with your hands. The catechist began to eat, and when he took his fingers out of the dish and I was about to take a portion, I noticed dark stains on his hands. I stopped eating and asked him to show me his hands. I admit - even now, I feel ashamed to speak about it. His hands were simply dirty. I turned to everyone and said, 'If you take care of yourselves like this, your families will always be sick. Your children will be sick - you’ll never cure them!' That moment was a turning point for me - both practical and spiritual. Preaching the Word of God is a beautiful mission. But if you tell someone that the Lord loves them and wants them to be healthy - and you can confirm it with action, for example by building a well - then you truly embody the message of the Gospel. Seventy-five percent of all diseases in Tanzania are caused by drinking dirty water. I believe we can help. The situation is serious, but not hopeless. In every village, people dig wells or makeshift ponds themselves to collect water. Sadly, this water is often undrinkable!"
In 2023, we carried out a mission project called "Well Construction in Tanzania - Drilling Equipment." The initiative came from Father Adam, who proposed purchasing a drilling rig and the necessary machinery to significantly reduce the cost of well construction. Let me remind you that in Tanzania, aside from the hard, rocky ground, another major challenge is that you cannot pay in advance for drilling. You pay per meter of borehole drilled - and water can be found at depths ranging anywhere from 80 to 150 meters! That means, when ordering a well, you never really know how much money you need to have prepared - it could be 35,000 PLN, or it could be 60,000 PLN. However, now that we have our own equipment and trained workers, we’ve calculated that the average cost of drilling one well is 25,000 PLN. This includes fuel for transportation and drilling, workers’ wages, wear and tear on the drill bit, as well as the cost of pipes and a pump.
"Most often, we build wells near schools. I’ve noticed that once a well is drilled, the lives of the students change completely - for example, they no longer have to carry water to the school before classes begin. These children and young people truly change: there is less illness and a noticeable increase in joy. In Tanzania, water infrastructure exists only in major cities. Outside of them, water scarcity is a serious issue," concludes Father Adam Cytrynowski, MAfr.
On behalf of the Secretariat for Foreign Missions of the Sacred Heart Fathers, we wholeheartedly join Father Adam’s appeal. For our part, I assure you of our daily and faithful prayers for the intentions of all our Donors.
With the gift of prayer +
Deputy Secretary of Foreign Missions
of the Priests of the Sacred Heart in Poland
Fr. Piotr Chmielecki SCJ
P.S. I kindly ask for your financial support for the construction of a well in Tanzania. This is not just a figure of speech - every zloty donated truly becomes a "glass of clean water" for someone who is thirsty in Africa.
