Waiting for Water

Dr. Andrew Ashdown, Partnership Coordinator for Africa, shares these thoughts ahead of World Water Day, held on 22 March.  World Water Day celebrates water and raises awareness of the 2.2 billion people living without access to safe water.

“We have waited all day by the water-hole, but there is not enough water to fill even a small bucket.”

I was standing on the edge of a village in rural Tanzania in 2022. About 25 women were sitting with empty containers beside the village’s only water supply. The water-hole - the only water supply for the village and its surrounding area providing drinking water, washing and cooking water and irrigation for the fields - held little more than a puddle that would not fill one bucket. After hours waiting and hoping that some water may ‘bubble up’ from the ground, a line of women walked back to their homes with empty containers. Yet again the rains had failed and two months after the rains should have begun, the ground was parched and dusty. At a time when harvest should be approaching, the crops had not even been planted.

Sadly, I have seen many similar scenes as I have travelled across Africa during the last few years. In 2023, as I travelled from Mozambique to the northern reaches of Kenya, everywhere the land was parched and crops had failed. Devastating droughts, repeated failure of rains, unpredictable weather patterns affect the whole Continent. Scientists and local farmers alike say the same thing: “Climate change is having a devastating impact on our lives. Normal seasonal patterns have disappeared.” And the consequent barrenness of land creates further dangers. Land becomes badly eroded. And as weather patterns become more extreme, the arrival of rains create floods that are destructive both of the environment and of human habitations, often on a devastating scale, as they did in Botswana and South Africa in January 2025, after years of drought.

Such conditions have caused a significant move from rural to urban areas of Africa. As population and unemployment levels increase in urban areas, internal migration becomes less attractive and increasing numbers of people seek to migrate externally. Given the extent of the environmental challenges across much of Africa, many attempt to migrate north to Europe, using three routes: across the Mediterranean from Libya or Tunisia to Italy; from West Africa to the Canary Islands; and from Morocco to Spain. Despite the multiple and considerable dangers of all of these routes, the numbers of attempted migrations continues to be high and is likely to increase if the consequences of climate change are not mitigated.

In 2024, I travelled across Zimbabwe. Everywhere the land was parched. Rivers were dry. At frequent intervals, the carcases of dead cattle and goats lay strewn on the roadside, having starved to death or died of thirst. Skeletal survivors rummaged in the dust for non-existent sustenance and water. In Botswana, I saw painfully thin wild elephants gathered around a dry water pump on the edge of a village in a dusty landscape devoid even of normal grass covering. At Balanda village in Matabeleland, the Minister said to me: “Without water we cannot grow crops to feed either ourselves or our animals. Without water, we all die.” The Minister covers 10 outlying congregations spread across an area 75kms in diameter but his only transport is a bicycle. (It is a worthy feature of the Methodist Church in Africa that it is often to be found in remote areas serving the most marginalised people in areas often unreached by other churches).

But most importantly, they need water. With water they could grow food and grow crops for the animals. We were shown the three surviving pigs in the pig pens. Their food and water bowls were empty and they were rummaging in the dust for non-existent sustenance. They would not survive long.

For the local Church community, their first priority is a borehole. Boreholes are the only way to guarantee a water supply through periods of drought and this community are desperate for one. Boreholes provide a permanent water supply which sustain life – for humans and animals alike. I asked how much a borehole and water tank would cost… about $2500. But such a sum is far beyond the reach of impoverished farmers who can barely grow enough food to survive. I am delighted to report that a few months later, the World Mission Fund Committee agreed a grant to dig a borehole in Balanda and provide two others in the region.

At Matjinge Primary School in Matabeleland close to the Botswana Border, the drought was affecting every aspect of life. The Primary School has over 600 students and the Secondary School has 282 students, a number of them boarders. Some of the students have stopped coming to school because the parents can no longer afford the already subsidised fees of US$20 per child per term, which nowhere near cover the school costs. Other parents have just stopped paying, since the drought had destroyed the farming activities and killed the livestock of the parents. The school had tried to set up income generating projects including a vegetable plot and a poultry project, but because there was no water, the vegetable gardens had become a dustbowl and the chickens had died. The school built a couple of fish ponds which soon filled with fish and were both providing food for the children and acting as an income source. But due to the drought, the fish had died and the ponds were empty. The government set up a school feeding project for children who do not get fed at home. Fortunately the school has boreholes but the water table had dropped to 120m below ground and the pump can only pump water from up to 90 metres, so the boreholes were dry.

Climate change is a global issue. But its’ impact is not just environmental. It has far-reaching human, social and political consequences that create instability on a global scale. Typically, it is the poorest and most vulnerable regions and people that are most affected, but the instability and poverty created by climate change does not remain localized. As land is denuded, pressure between groups of people for use of land (for example between settled and herding communities) increases. In parts of Africa, especially in the Sahel region of West Africa, this tension has led to extreme violence. As people from different communal identities compete for advantage and control of declining resources, existing communal and religious tensions intensify in a way that has lasting, violent and dangerous cross-border and even global implications.

Tragically, climate change is making some areas uninhabitable and is contributing hugely to food insecurity in numerous nations. As one academic expert in Cameroon said to me: “Food Security and Climate change will soon be the number one issue that we have to face in our Christian ministry and service.” For many, migration is seen as the only hope. We have already witnessed the movement of millions of people from Africa and Asia to Europe and from Central and South America northwards. Notwithstanding the possible contributions that migrants can make to the countries in which they settle, this movement of people in search of a better life puts added social and economic strain on receiving countries, whilst reducing the human resource and capacity within the countries of origin. Such levels of migration will not only continue but are likely to increase as the consequences of climate change – including political instability and conflict - make life more difficult and even unbearable in some of the most affected regions.

There are solutions however. Clearly, it is incumbent on countries most guilty of industrial practices and policies that contribute to climate change to address those challenges at home. However, initiatives on both a local and national scale can mitigate against the consequences of climate change. Churches are playing a significant role. Throughout Africa, Churches are promoting and running local agricultural projects to increase agricultural yields, teach water conservation and promote most effective agricultural practices to their members. Such initiatives not only provide food, but re-invigorate the soil. Across Africa, good agricultural practices and water conservation techniques are being taught as part of the curriculum in schools. Large infrastructural projects such as piping water from mountain regions and lakes in Africa to more arid areas far from substantial water supplies, could be considered by governments. Whilst the cost of such infrastructural projects may seem high, it is as nothing compared to the cost of supporting millions of migrants or of managing the impact of worsening conflicts that are at least in part due to climate change. Moreover, in a global economy in which the annual arms trade totals over one trillion dollars, might it not be more productive for the international community, rather than prioritising industries that facilitate conflict, to enable and support transformative, life-giving projects across the world? Governments have a moral and political responsibility to consider economic priorities and their long-term impact.

Climate change is here to stay and is having a devastating impact on millions of the most vulnerable people on the planet. For that reason, Methodist partners all over the world are undertaking small-scale projects to mitigate its consequences at a local level.

Climate change is a theological and a spiritual issue. Many of the most vulnerable people on the planet are deeply aware of how connected are the social, political and even religious implications of climate change. It is incumbent therefore upon the ‘developed’ nations to witness the reality of the impact of climate change on the poorest regions, to listen to those most affected, and to seek transformative solutions to mitigate its effects and so be instruments of life and hope for all. The Methodist Church In Britain, with its’ partners globally is committed to playing its’ part in contributing to this goal.