Introduction

This is a portrait of Marofarihy, a rural village in southeast Madagascar. When we arrived in Marofarihy village in 2007, to carry out anthropological research, there was only one water pump in an area as large as 75 km2. But the pump wasn’t working. And the villagers were waiting for it to be repaired. Then we learned that a third of the water pumps in Africa are not functioning. This conundrum inspired us to embark upon the following journey.

After having lived in this village for three months we, anthropologists Carole Rabemanantsoa and Sara de Wit wanted to reciprocate the villagers for their hospitality. Together with our wonderful gatekeeper and  local representative Joéline Ravao, we set out to build three water pumps. Due to the overwhelming financial support that we received, this attempt matured into a larger project. Ten years later, Marofarihy has 20 water pumps. All of them are working. Of course, they are not always working, or all the time. But the villagers maintain, repair and take care of their pumps. Here we want to share the remarkable story with you of villagers who – despite the day-to-day hardships they endure – continuously make their pumps ‘work’.