The Gift of Water
Imagine not having water, or any access to it.
Roughly 25% of the planet lacks safely managed drinking water, and about 10% can’t access any clean water, according to global estimates.
Sometime early in 2025, these facts struck Cole Ward ’26 like a gut punch as he was learning about a company that was building wells in Africa for people born into this terrible category: those desperately needing clean water.
That moment launched Ward on an extraordinary journey last spring. He helped to establish a non-profit foundation, fundraised to build a well, traveled to Africa and witnessed firsthand the complexities of constructing a new well for a village in Uganda, and made a short documentary film about the life-changing experience.
“I’ve always loved giving and trying to help people,” Ward said.
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Funding the Mission
“My mom (Susan) and I were talking about this great need for water in parts of Africa,” Ward said. “We all decided that we should do something about it.”
They had learned of a company that built wells in three African countries. The cost to drill and create each well was about $11,000.
So early in 2025, Ward, his younger sister, Samantha Ward, now a sophomore at the Academy of the Holy Names, and his friend James Lass established the Living Springs Foundation (www.livingspringsfoundation.org).
The mission: to provide sustainable access to clean and safe water for underserved communities.
The immediate goal: providing for one well in Uganda.
“It was born out of a feeling that we have to help these people – it’s water, it’s essential, it’s something we don’t even think about,” Ward said.
They quickly began to raise money, partnering with fundraising organizations, holding a shoe drive, sending emails to raise awareness and solicit donations, setting up booths at events, etc.
Due to determination and the generosity of others, soon they had generated the $11,000. They donated it to a non-profit that has built 73 wells in three African nations. (For the purpose of this story, that non-profit has requested not to be named for safety reasons.)
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A Well in Uganda
When 2025 began, Uganda was a distant country that Ward knew little about.
By June, he was on a flight there with his family to witness and document the creation of a well that would, if all went according to plan, provide a village of schoolchildren and their families, about 1,000 people total, with clean drinking water.
Make that four flights – from Tampa to Canada to Belgium to Rwanda to Uganda. A landlocked country in East Africa with a large population upwards of 50 million, Uganda is about the size of Oregon, agriculture-based, and has a high poverty rate and limited clean water supply. The well-drilling organization that Ward and Living Springs donated to has provided safe, accessible, drinkable water to an estimated 80,000+ in Uganda and neighboring South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Wards drove for miles on undeveloped roads and rugged terrain from village to village in Uganda, past mudhuts made with sundried bricks, and on trails through heavily forested areas. It took two days to make it from the airport to the well site, which was adjacent to a school in a remote village.
They were greeted by a cheerful contingent. For the locals, if successful, this would be a historic occasion in their lives. They had long been hauling water more than two miles round trip from a poor water source that wasn’t up to standards. Retrieving water from the stream at the bottom of the ravine was exhausting and perilous; many had died during a flash flood.
Ward quickly learned all about the village and the people, their travails (“young kids would have to carry jerrycans around”), as well as the drilling machinery and process, and how difficult it could be.
“Typically it takes a few days to make the wells because of how hard it is,” Ward said. “Rock hardness matters. The drill bit has to be right, or they have to stop and change the bit, which takes time. They have to put the piping in as they’re drilling, to prevent it from caving in. The depth to the water supply can be more than 100 meters. A lot can go wrong.
“Ours was drilled in four hours, which is crazy fast.”
At just 64 meters down, they hit the reservoir.
“It started popping up in stuttering bursts,” Ward said. “It spurts dirty water at first. It takes awhile before the piping is clean and the clean water is flowing.”
With the entire school – hundreds of students – out there watching, it was a joyous, life-altering occasion.
“The moment the water shot out, everyone went wild, they were so happy,” Ward said. “These underground reservoirs are huge – the water will always be there. It makes a huge impact.
"It was amazing.”
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Transforming Lives
Using his cell phone and those of family members, Ward captured video of parts of the experience in Uganda, in part for the purpose of making a documentary. During the week+ in Africa he also observed the creation of a second new well, and visited the site of another well for its one-year anniversary celebration.
“They now have much better water, cleaner water, much more accessible, and much more water than ever before,” Ward said.
The fresh and bountiful water supply transforms these communities, and in turn Ward has been greatly impacted, especially by the people who donated to support the Living Springs Foundation, and by the children in the concrete block school adjacent to the new well.
“The schoolkids were learning about science and physics and also about God and religion,” Ward said. “Their faith was very, very strong. They have almost nothing compared to us, and yet they are so much happier. They were grateful and thankful. They were aware of what we were doing and what it would mean.”
Like many Jesuit students who experience the school’s summertime service immersion mission trips, Ward has been transformed.
“With all the hardships these people endure, they still take the time to love and learn about God,” Ward said. “To see their reverence and their joy, it was inspiring.”
Ward is an aspiring film student (“I want to create stories, stories that show humanity and redemption and sacrifice”), and he interviewed several people for his documentary. He made two versions, the 12-minute one plus a truncated 2-minute version that he has used for college applications.
“Through the generosity, prayers, and gifts of our supporters, Living Springs Foundation raised the funds to support the building of this well near a school in a remote community in Uganda,” Ward said. “Today, this well provides clean, safe water for more than 1,000 people, transforming daily life with the gift of health, dignity, and hope.
“We were honored to be volunteer guests to watch this well being built, and to see the joy on everyone's faces.”