TANZANIA — This summer, six students from Clearwater Central Catholic High School embarked on a trip of a lifetime to Tanzania to fulfill a mission that had been years in the making—to bring fresh drinking water to villages in need.
They were part of the local Clearwater non-profit organization Water 4 Mercy, a group that was first featured on ABC Action News in 2022.
“In sub-Saharan Africa, we have about 320 million people that are in search of water to drink,” said Nermine Khouzam Rubin, who founded Water 4 Mercy in 2018. “Women and children who were walking hours and hours and hours in search of water, a lot of times it is infested.”
Rubin, who was born in Egypt, said she was touched when she first saw these challenges with her own eyes. She knew she had to help, and that began the Water 4 Mercy mission, raising awareness and money.
“This is our very first Water 4 Mercy student service chapter, Clearwater Central Catholic High School, and we had six students, two faculty, and one parent come with us,” said Rubin.
In every village the students entered, they were greeted with dancing, chanting, and signs with their school name; many of the villagers even handed them gifts.
“Definitely, when we came in, they gave us such a warm welcome, and they were so happy to see us,” said student Gracie Chung.
Students were also given the opportunity to climb into the boreholes to see firsthand how villagers were obtaining their water, to see how dirty it was, and the challenges the women and children faced just bringing a bucket back home.
“It’s definitely an impactful experience being put in those shoes. It’s crazy that they have to do this every day,” said student Camille Galaura.
“Since 2018, we have brought clean water and impacted 19 villages, which equates to about 70,000 people who now have clean water,” said Rubin.
That number is soon about to reach 20 as the Water 4 Mercy team decided to adopt another village during this trip. Rubin made the speech in front of the village council and members.
“It hurts my heart that you are drinking water and you are getting these diseases that hurt your stomach. Today, Water 4 Mercy is committing to provide water to your village,” said Rubin.
It was also during this trip that the students of Clearwater Central Catholic got to see all their hard work pay off as they helped turn on the water at Mabalangu Village. A plaque with their school name hung on the brand-new water source.
‘’Since 2021, we’ve raised over $36,000 through fundraisers like movie nights and the Walk 4 Water that we had at our school, and by doing that, we also get the word out and spread the message to other students,” said student Alivia Tevis.
“I just think it’s really beautiful to see and it’s something that we in America take for granted,” said student Sophie Pager, as they celebrated with the villagers as they drank clean drinking water out of the faucet for the first time.
Rubin hopes more schools, not just in Tampa Bay but across the country, take notice and start their own service chapters.
“This young generation is really concerned about something more than themselves to come to Africa,” said Rubin.
“And it makes me really proud of the people I go to school with and the club I’m a part of,” said student Sarah Williams.
The new state-of-the-art infrastructure is then passed on to the villagers as they are taught how to maintain it.
“We provide and harness the solar energy, and harness from the sun solar power, to drill down to the aquifer and access water, training the villagers to take ownership of this great gift that they have,” said Rubin.
Once these villages have their own clean, dependable, consistent water source, they will be able to grow their own food for both consumption and sale.
“We bring in world-renowned technology like drip irrigation and nutrients to the soil,” said Rubin.
“I think it’s awesome that through this tower right here, they are making a whole economy for them basically and giving them a bunch of money, which raises their quality of life,” said student Corey Vohra. “This has been the trip of a lifetime, and this is something that will stick with me for years to come.”
It costs about $100,000 to make a village fully sustainable, according to Rubin, who is always looking for more donors to adopt their own village.
“And I hope this story on ABC Action News is going to be able to touch more hearts to open their eyes that, ‘wow there is a problem,’ but guess what there is a solution,” said Rubin.
For more information about donating to Water 4 Mercy or starting your school’s own service chapter, go here.
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