After the Holiday season, January seems to be a month of hunkering down, and settling into a new year. But f you’re anything like us, as it gets deeper into February, you are starting to dream about the end of winter, warmer weather, and vacation! So where are you planning on going this summer? Haven’t decided yet?

We’re busy planning and preparing for our trips to Ethiopia, and we’re inviting you to come with us and do something a little different with your vacation this summer. Come travel alongside our team in exploring the cities, experiencing the culture, and witnessing firsthand the impact clean water is having on this amazing country and its people.

We’re blessed to have partners on the ground in Africa to oversee the ins and outs of our well projects. Two or three times a year, we get to travel to meet with these in-country partners, view progress, and celebrate completed wells. The best part is that we get to take people like you along with us. We’re continually blown away by the generosity that we experience from the people who donate, fundraise, and contribute to funding these wells. We do our best to help you feel connected to the process with photos and stories, but there is nothing that can compare to having the experience for yourself. So, we are intentional about opening our trips to travellers who are interested in our mission and in supporting our beneficiaries. We believe this can be a powerful experience, but you don’t have to take our word for it. Krista was one of our interns who traveled with us to Ethiopia and Uganda this past summer, and here’s what she had to say about her experience:

“It’s hard for us to imagine not being able to turn on the faucet and brush our teeth. Or not being able to press a button to wash our clothes. We can’t fathom what it would be like to never have the chance to bathe or shower. We run 5K ‘fun runs’ not realizing that people across the world walk that every day just to get a dirty, yellow, plastic can full of water that may or may not make them ill. We can’t picture ‘drinking water’ with dirt swirling, and worms swimming around. These people can. In fact, that’s all many of them know.

During 3 weeks in Africa you can meet a lot of (amazing) people, learn a lot about a vast array of topics, and visit a lot of project sites (39 to be exact). You can drive a lot of bumpy roads, kill a lot of bugs, take many bush stops, dance often, laugh a lot, and celebrate the gift of life that is clean water. You can start to get to know and love a culture and a country (or two), but what you can’t do is come home unchanged.” 

Every trip is special and unique and we can’t begin to imagine what a trip will mean to you. What we do know is that there’s truth in what Krista so eloquently states: “I couldn’t truly capture this experience and what it has meant to me in an infinite number of words, but I can let it change me.” So we invite you to come with us this summer to see how it changes you. Please reach out to us at team@watertothrive.org for more information, and we hope to see you soon.