The community dug the trench that this water pipe is in- which is piping the water from a new borehole/well to a water kiosk and school.

The top picture is of the capped borehole (some 300ft. deep), the middle picture is of the solar panel that runs the pump (what do you do in an area with electricity? harvest the sun), and the bottm picture is of the local water committee (who have learned the skills to maintain the borehole, pump, & solar panel, and teach the community about the importance of using clean water).

This is a shallow well (with hand pump) that was funded by a church in PA- it is capped on top by cement- that protects the water from contamination, as does the bramble fence to keep the animals back. The portion on the left is a "pipe" that leads to a trough outside the fence for the livestock.

This is an example of what people is this area traditionally do during the dry season to access water. This hole is dug by hand into the dry river bed until the water level is reached- and a fence of brambles has been formed around the hole to protect it from animals.
Many of the holes I saw did not have the added protection of a fence (top photo).

Livestock drinking from a mostly dry riverbed (and in turn contaminate what little water remains).

You wouldn't know it from this picture, but this is a river during the rainy season. But when it's the dry season- well, where do you get water from? (and consider this- when there is water it is used for household use, the animals, washing clothes, etc----so even during the rainy season there is need for clean, safe water)

This is the neighborhood in which the sponsored girl lives.
You can see how the roads aren't paved- which causes massive quantities of dust to be in the air. We heard the results of this side of poverty in the girl's voice which was raspy with a chest cold.

This is a typical home in Soweto- with no running water or plumbing and electricity is available only if creatively spliced from nearby lines.
We are here to visit a sponsored child- to share with her some gifts sent with us by her sponsor in the US and to see how she is doing.