18 Years of Save the Rain: A Lifelong Legacy of Change

Save the Rain turns 18, and as we come of age, we’ve been thinking of the many gifts each year has been blessed with. Perhaps the richest of these is that we can sit face-to-face with every family who has received one of our rainwater harvesting systems. We know their names and their stories. We have watched their children grow, and their joys and victories have been our happiest moments.

Water is the agent through which we come face to face with our people – then we join hold hands, and walk the rest of the journey together. Our tanks are built to last – and so are our relationships. Ultimately, we’re building a structure out of rain that delivers love.

18 years ago, a conspiracy of magic and destiny brought us 14,000 miles to Joseph’s home in Tanzania. His daughter Violeth walked for water each day, her body bent from the labor and dangerously high levels of naturally occurring fluoride in the nearby river. We built our first rainwater harvesting system on his house, and, perceiving its transformational potential, he said –what you have given to us, we would like to give to our country.

Joseph took us to Nambala Primary, encouraging us to join students on their quest for water to bring to school and home. It was a devastating education in the myriad ways scarcity steals childhood and robs children of a future. We went home and immediately began fundraising to build our first rainwater harvesting system on this school.

Our next school project was 12 miles away, but our budget only stretched as far as a bicycle. Materials were stored at Joseph’s home, and each day, he’d load up his bike with rebar, wheelbarrows, shovels, and people, powering forward with irrepressible energy and unwavering faith.

Three years later, we passed a woman and baby walking for water. 13 hours later, we saw her again, lugging her buckets and baby home. The plight of women and their enslavement to the pursuit of this elusive resource hit with the full force of heartbreak. For Joseph, the solution was obvious: we were to give every household a rainwater harvesting system. Every household...? we asked. Yes – every household. And God will bless you.

So, Joseph selected a team of six women, one of whom was Diana. He knew her circumstances; she needed the work. She worried she was too weak to build, but he lent her his faith, and with it, she found she could. She is called ‘Mama Zawadi’ – zawadi means gift, and it’s the name of her eldest daughter. ‘Mother Gift’ is a true embodiment of the giver-receiver model that Save the Rain is founded upon.

Joseph with his children Kelvin and Violeth.

What delivered her from despair was the act of building a tank for another woman. In uplifting others, she stepped into her own power. She decided to hire laborers from each new community she was building in to spread wealth and introduce women to their strength. When she returns for a second, third, fourth round of building – the same team of trained women are there, and their lives look different every time.

Diana sits by her tank that was built in 2012. She was part of the first female team of Save the Rain residential rainwater tank builders.

Joseph meets with the King’ori team in July 2023 to discuss future projects.

When we measure our victories, we look at statistics, but the real gold lies in the stories: generations of daughters who’ll never know what it means to walk for water. Smiles of schoolchildren turning from fluoride-stained brown to dazzling white. The way these women hold themselves, their pride and power. From each life Diana’s team touches, exponential change radiates out.

“I am still amazed that such a small team of people can touch hundreds of thousands of lives and create possibility where there was none. I am so grateful to have that daily example that anyone can change the world.” --Violeth Masoud

To chart how far we’ve come, we needn’t look any further than how we began. Violeth was a child, walking for water… now she’s an adult, working alongside her father and with two children of her

“I am still amazed that such a small team of people can touch hundreds of thousands of lives and create possibility where there was none. I am so grateful to have that daily example that anyone can change the world.” own who will never want for anything. They play with Diana’s grandchildren.

As the saying goes, it’s not the years in your life that count – it’s the life in your years. The age of a tree is measured by counting concentric rings, and you could measure ours the same way. Each tank is an act of charity that ripples out in a multiple of at least 18 – Freedom from the walk for water. Safety from the danger of that walk. Time. Energy. Health. Education. Food security. Future. Income. Community. Respect. Dignity. Empowerment. Independence. Abundance. Security. Strength. Love.