Skip to main content
The Ripple — One Million Wells (Design Mockup)
💧 💧 💧 💧 💦
💧 Stories from the field

The Ripple

Every well we drill sends a ripple through a community. These are the stories of where the water goes.

The new well at Nakifuma Village, Uganda
Partner Spotlight July 2, 2026 WellBuilt Roofing

What a Roof in Pennsylvania Has to Do With a Well in Uganda

Roofing homes. Providing access to water.

On June 19th, a drilling crew stood in the brush outside Nakifuma Village, Uganda, looking at a patch of red dirt. Eight days later, clean water was flowing from 80 feet below it. On July 2nd, the village gathered — a blessing was said, the handle was pulled, and a community's daily life changed for good.

"A business should do more than generate profit — it should leave people and communities better than it found them." — Chris Harkins, WellBuilt Roofing
▶ Watch the first water Partner your business →
John Mwase and the children of Transform the Needy Child Children at Transform the Needy Child orphanage
Founder Story · Long Read November 7, 2025

The Story of Transform the Needy Child

As told by John Mwase

My name is John. I was born and raised in Kiige, a small, poor village in Uganda — one of 18 children in a family that worked hard for every meal and every opportunity. My father used to tell us, "School is not for play — mean business!" Today, we care for 62 children — each with a name, a story, a future…

From buying pens for classmates at 15 to founding the first and only orphanage in his region — John's story is one of sacrifice, hope, and generational change.

Read John's full story →
💧 💧 💦 💧

More from the field

Children celebrating at the first African well of 2026
Well Stories March 28, 2026

Our 1st African Well of 2026

These giggles, these splashes, these first real drinks of clean water — this is what hope looks like. Over 2,000 people now have clean water, and the well was finished even while Uganda's communications went dark.

Read the story →
OMW breaks ground on the TTNC children's facility
Shelter & Care April 2026

OMW Broke Ground

58 children hanging on by hope. No running water, no privacy, no security. OMW is building a facility for 72 children — a place to house, feed, nurture, educate, and create generational change.

Read the story →
Agricultural well drilling in India
India Milestones Sept 20, 2024

One Million Wells in India

Well #540 complete — one well every 2.9 days since March 2020, at ~$1,400 per well. Proof our drilling method is easy to implement and expanding exponentially.

Read the story →
One Million Wells at the UN Water Conference
Global Stage July 12, 2024

OMW at the 2023 UN Water Conference

The first major UN water gathering in nearly 50 years — and OMW was there, sharing how the award-winning Crawford Drill puts water access directly into communities' hands.

Read the story →
Shelter and Care — a legacy of love
Shelter & Care March 28, 2024

Shelter & Care: A Legacy of Love

It all started with one man's heart. Jerry Harmon couldn't walk — but his compassion carried him across oceans, and sparked a promise to 72 children that will outlive us all.

Read the story →
475
Wells & counting
India Milestones Jan 31, 2024

475 Wells Drilled in India

Congratulations to our India team on well #475 since March 2020 — a 64-foot agricultural well helping farmers grow more crops, add growing seasons, and feed more people.

Read the story →
💧
What difference does clean water make?
Give Nov 23, 2023

Giving Tuesday 2023

See the good your donations accomplish — training and empowering people to drill water for themselves with our Patents for Humanity award-winning drill, buildable almost anywhere on earth.

Read the story →
💧 💦 💧

Wild water facts

🌊
71%
of Earth's surface is water — yet less than 4% of it is fresh, and most of that is locked in ice and glaciers
USGS
🧠
73%
of your brain is water. Your heart too. Your lungs? A soggy 83%
USGS
👶
78%
of a newborn baby is water — we quite literally start out as puddles with personalities
USGS
🦕
4.5B yrs
Earth's water just keeps recycling — the glass you drank today was probably once dinosaur backwash
USGS water cycle
🚰
3,000+
gallons a year wasted by one faucet dripping just once per second
EPA WaterSense
⏳
200M
hours are spent every single day by women and girls collecting water
UNICEF
🌍
1 in 4
people worldwide — 2.1 billion — still lack safely managed drinking water
WHO / UNICEF 2024
💵
$4
returned in health and productivity for every $1 invested in water & sanitation
UN / WHO
1,200+
Wells completed
11
Countries
2.9
Days per well in India
$3,500
Drills a full well

Be part of the next story

Any amount helps — but $3,500 drills a full well, and your name is forever imprinted in the concrete when it's finished. One name. One well. Thousands of lives changed.

Sponsor a Well