Water well in Uganda pledged to John Hume

Wells of Life Ireland is to dig a well in rural Uganda to honour the life and work of the Derry-born peacemaker who passed away last month.

“The entire Wells of Life family takes inspiration from leaders such as John Hume,” said Martin Kennedy from the charity, which was founded in 2008 on Christian principles.

“Here is a man who left his country in a much better place than where he found it - a simple objective which inspires us to do similar for others.”

Wells of Life said that Mr Hume had himself drawn inspiration from the words of Martin Luther King, “We shall overcome”, and that the same message drove its mission to provide a clean, safe water source to those in need.

Wells of Life brings clean water to millions of people in rural Uganda where one in five children die before their fifth birthday.

It is estimated that a life is lost every 21 seconds through illness contracted from ingesting contaminated water.

It is understood the John Hume Memorial Peace Well will be drilled at a primary school in Uganda, where it will provide water to up to 1,000 children for approximately 25 years.

Since 2008, Wells of Life has funded the construction of 527 water wells in the Mityana District of Uganda and launched Project Restoration in 2019 to repair older, deteriorated wells ensuring clean water.

“We share Hume’s belief that community leadership is required to effect change and encourage local cooperative developments to support our life-saving efforts of providing safe water in Uganda,” said Wells of Life president Pete Callahan.

“John Hume once said that his work was based on a desire, ‘that our children can look forward to the future with a smile of hope’.

“We echo these noble sentiments in our work for the children of Uganda.”