Clean Water for West Africa

Just before the world shut down with Covid, my friend Howard shared an idea that would later change many lives including mine. He was forming a new charity focused on bringing clean water to communities in need, starting in The Gambia. Howard had already established a successful clean water charity, but this one was different, it focused on actually drilling wells, not just raising funds, with a goal of eventually being lead by Africans themselves. He asked me to join the management team.

At the time, I was still working full time, already heavily involved with other charities, and knew next to nothing about drilling for water. It just didn’t seem possible for me to commit so I said no.

Howard pressed ahead. H M Forage was formed. He bought a drilling rig, had it shipped to The Gambia, and began laying the groundwork. But when the pandemic hit, everything ground to a halt. Travel was impossible, progress was frozen, and momentum stalled.

When borders reopened, Howard travelled to The Gambia, hopeful to move things forward but ran into a new challenge: bureaucracy. Despite his efforts, he couldn’t secure government approval to establish a clean water charity. The main issue? It was a faith based initiative, and authorities were wary it could be used to indoctrinate or divide communities.

By then, I’d retired from paid work. Howard asked again would I come with him this time and help try again?

That April, we flew to The Gambia together and began visiting government officials. The message was clear: if we wanted approval, the charity would need to be entirely secular and apolitical. So that’s what we did. We rewrote the constitution, removed all references to faith, and restructured it as a neutral, non religious organisation committed to showing unconditional love through the simple, vital gift of clean water. We have no other agenda.

With that, we were granted permission to operate. Things moved quickly. We found a suitable facility with a workshop and office space. We interviewed staff, bought a vehicle, and appointed Matthew a highly skilled master driller as our Operations Manager. He built a team of drillers and a bookkeeper.

In September, we returned for hands on training with our equipment and successfully drilled our first well an unforgettable milestone.

Sadly, just a year later, Howard’s health declined, and he passed away.

For myself and the other two British management team members, it was clear what we needed to do, continue the work and honour Howard’s legacy.

We made a strategic shift from a pure charity to a social enterprise. It was a practical move toward long term sustainability. Now, we drill wells for clients who can afford them, and the profits go directly toward funding wells in needy communities.

To date, we’ve drilled 15 wells, both in The Gambia and through a partnership with another organisation in Guinea-Bissau. We are now installing sola pumps and tanks so that the people no longer need to hand pump the water up.

And we’re not done yet.