MARGARETIA MWALE SONDER STORY
The Sonder Project
MARGARETIA MWALE SONDER STORY
Margaretia collecting water for her family .
At 60 years old , Margaretia Mwale was supposed to live her golden years simply , at home looking out for herself and her husband , with regular visits from her children and grandchildren . Life would be hard , but at least her five kids were all grown up with their own families , and she only had to care for herself and her husband . At least that ’ s how things were supposed to be , until one of her sons passed away from complications from anemia , and Margaretia and her husband took in his six kids .
Life suddenly became a whole lot more difficult . Water was the main challenge . Margaretia lives in a rural Malawian community called Chimphako , with a population of about 250 people . Margaretia settled in the area in 1981 when she and her husband sought a place to farm . Chimphako offered a place where they could raise their family , live off the land , and get by , like 82 % of the population ( 16 million people ) living in rural Malawi . It would take Margaretia two hours to collect water , and she would do this twice daily . Still , the water was never enough , and it was never clean .
Margaretia with some of her many grandkids .
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