A Walk Through the Jungle

In the heart of northeast India, where the emerald-green canopy of the jungle meets the rugged terrain of the hills, lives a sixteen-year-old girl named Rania.

We met Rania when we were visiting her village last year, building a well so that the community would have clean water. Like many girls her age, she is bright, bubbly, and loves learning. But unlike many teenagers in the U.S., Rania spends hours every day walking: walking to school, walking for water, and walking back home again. A few years ago, her father passed away. Since then, Rania’s mother has worked as a day laborer, earning just enough to provide a single meal each day for Rania and her three brothers.

Rania and several other village youngsters hung out with us while the drillers were working.

In a house where hunger is a frequent visitor, Rania chooses to focus on a different kind of nourishment: education.

Her trek to school involves walking more than 7 miles round-trip through the dense jungle forests. But Rania loves to learn, and for her, the walk is worth it. She knows if she studies enough, she can become a nurse – an important asset to the local tribal villages, where neighbors often get sick with water-borne diseases like typhoid, malaria, and diarrhea.

This is the moment when the drillers hit water!

The village ladies excitedly come to the new well for water

The well we built in Rania’s village last spring has given Rania and her neighbors better health, but it’s also given her more time to spend studying, preparing for her Board Exams this March. Her dream of earning her degree in Nursing feels more possible than ever before, but she doesn’t just want a career. She wants to be a healer for the people of her district. With her healthcare training and her knowledge of these rural areas, she’ll be able to make a real difference, creating ripples of health in the lives of many more people!

Getting water from their new well for the first time!