The story is told of a community in which its women had to walk long distances to fetch water from the stream. The journey was physically demanding, with them having to travel 2 hours, and the water was also unhygienic and contaminated, leading to occasional outbreaks of dysentery. Seeing this problem, an organisation decided to drill a borehole right in the centre of the village so that everyone could easily access clean water.
At first, the project seemed perfect. The borehole was close, convenient, and produced clean water. But within a short time, the pump broke down. The organisation repaired it, only for it to break again… and again. Each time the repair team returned, the damage seemed strangely intentional.
Eventually, confused and frustrated, the aid workers decided to investigate what was happening to the pump.
They discovered that it was the women who were responsible for ruining the pump, and their reasons were rather interesting. They explained that the long daily walk to the stream had not simply been a hardship, but it had also been their only private time away from household responsibilities. The trip to fetch water was when they had time to share gossip and bond within themselves. The new borehole, while helpful in theory, had taken that away.
So they sabotaged the pump not out of malice but because the intervention had killed their social life.
I remember hearing this story for the first time during a community medicine lecture in my final year of medical school. My initial reaction was disbelief, and if I’m honest, a sense that the women were being almost irrational +/- àjẹ̀ tendencies. How could anyone prefer a difficult, deprived state simply to preserve a social routine?
But over the years, as I have watched life unfold, I have come to understand this story more clearly. I’ve seen firsthand that helping others is not always perceived as help. People don’t automatically embrace what we believe is good for them.
We often say, “Teach a man to fish rather than give him fish,” but the truth is that some people don’t even like fish. Some only need fish once in a while, and teaching them how to fish may be a complete waste of time, resources, and emotional energy.
The deeper lesson is that help must be paired with understanding. Good intentions alone do not guarantee good outcomes. Before offering solutions, we must seek to understand the needs, values, and hidden motivations of those we hope to support.
This principle echoes the wisdom of Proverbs 18:13:
“To answer before listening— that is folly and shame.”
Have a lovely weekend.
FOLLOW US ON:
3 thoughts on “The Stream and The Borehole”
Interestingly I read a research by a staff of UN or so that they found that asking communities what they wanted and providing that led to tremendous economic growth outcomes than just fixing obvious problems.
Profound!
Shows how much of impact collaboration can yield when it comes to giving aid.
Nice story