IT BEGINS WITH A STORY

When one of our founders Sobonfu Somé first came to the United States, Wisdom Spring and digging wells were not an idea in her mind.

But she was mesmerized by the water that flowed out when she turned on a faucet — no matter the time of day, water always came out. Always. In the cities of Africa, there are faucets but never a guarantee that any water would come out. There are plenty of days when people turn it on and get nothing but air.

To her, this access to water was a miracle. She sent a letter home describing these ever-flowing faucets. And folks in her village just thought “Oh, that is just Sobonfu telling us another one of her stories…”

Sobonfu was living in Michigan, and she started taking English classes at the local college. As the class was coming to an end, and because it was an international group, the teacher asked them, “If you were to go back to your country, what is the one thing from America that you’d take back?”

Sobonfu’s classmates answered that they would take this and that — but when it came to Sobonfu, it was “Water.”

The teacher almost fell over, “Water? Of all the things in America, you’d take water?”

"Yes because in my country there is none. We have to walk 5-10 miles to get water."

The teacher told her to go home and think about it, and come back to give her a serious answer. So Sobonfu went home and came back, but of course, the answer remained, “Water”.

The teacher couldn’t believe it, “You are really serious about this?”

“I am sure, I used to carry water.”

The teacher just died laughing, “Come on…your stories are pretty wild, but come on…”

“Seriously, when you go to my country, especially in December, the first thing to meet you is dust. And some days you can’t tell the difference between sunrise and sunset except that you know the directions. But if someone showed you a picture, you couldn’t tell because everything is red from the wind storms..dust everywhere.” Sobonfu explained.

But the teacher still did not understand, “I really hope there is something beyond water that you can take back.”

At the time, Sobonfu had no idea that an actual seed had just been planted. It would soon grow and take root, but a couple of stops and starts would be necessary before it would bear fruit.

When Sobonfu moved to California, someone came to her and asked, “How can we give back to you?” Sobonfu replied, “You really want to know? I want to dig wells, my people need water.”

Money was raised and efforts began to organize the digging of wells. But all was not good. The well diggers hired to do the job were not reading the land to see where the best and most natural spots were to dig the wells. Things started to fall apart.

Since Sobonfu had told the villagers that she was coming to dig wells, they were curious why it hadn’t happened yet. Sobonfu was frustrated and devastated by the failed efforts and was ready to give up.

Until one of the village kids looked at her and told her, “I don’t believe that about you. I think if you really wanted to, you would find a way.”

The encouragement of a child…It was the beginning.

Sobonfu gained the extra courage to continue. She couldn’t give up, it was just too important.

The magic of synchronicity…

Sobonfu returned to the United States and started researching how to set up a non-profit. And in 2003 she helped set up Wisdom Spring. Not soon after, she got a call from a very passionate woman named Susan Hough. Susan had read Sobonfu’s books about family and community and they had touched her heart & soul to the deepest parts. She needed to meet Sobonfu and to learn from her. The children needed to learn from her. It was important.

In 2003, at Susan’s urging, Sobonfu came to speak to the teenagers at Heritage High School in Leesburg, VA where Susan lived. She spoke about children and their gifts. And, some of the kids really wanted to know about the daily activity of Burkina Faso teenagers.

“When I was your age, most of the activities were about carrying water, and it made for a long day sometimes.”

One of the students, Kristen Wood, and a few of her friends wanted to know more. By the time Sobonfu finished describing how they would sit by a water hole to wait for the water table to rise, the kids were really disturbed, “You mean you would sit by the water hole and wait that long?”

When Kristen went home that night she was still thinking hard about it. It was later that night when she called Susan on the phone, “If they can walk for water, we can walk for water.”

Susan replied, “You want to do what?”

And Kristen clarified, “Why can’t we do a fundraiser?”

By 2004, the teenagers from Heritage High School were organized and ready, and they held the very first walk “Walking for Water” fundraiser. The walk raised $65,000 — enough for five wells.

From that one idea, came many things. Soon after the first walk it was clear that water was only one part of the whole picture. Supporting education also proved important and over the years we have supported many kids with tuition and lunches. We also added other fundraising ventures like Art for Africa, Soup for the Soul and a Walking for Water West coast fundraiser.

When Sobonfu died in 2017 we were unsure about continuing the work of the organization. She was a strong force and visionary and it was unclear how we might go forward without her. However, we chose to continue her work. Not only to continue water and education projects, but also to commit ourselves to support Teen Leaders in connecting to their skills and passions. 

We have expanded our work to India and Kenya, and we search for more collaborators and communities every day!