The Malawi Water Project
Founded in 2011 by Helen Timoffee
A Brief History
Helen Gail Timoffee (November 19, 1949 - September 7, 2022), was born and raised in western Canada and dedicated her life to helping people. She earned a masters degree in social work and worked in social services for 25 years in support of children with disabilities, day care and child welfare. Helen cared deeply for others and wished everyone had the opportunity to live a healthy, happy life. Helen had a lifelong dream to help people in Africa. In 2006, she travelled to Malawi where she learned firsthand the challenges of clean water and sanitation. In 2011, with great determination, she founded the Malawi Water Project. Helen built the Malawi Water Project with an immense work ethic, an unyielding spirit and enormous heart. Today, the Malawi Water Project continues to hold the promise of providing clean, safe drinking water and promoting good sanitation and hygiene practices while offering employment opportunities. The Project has inspired thousands of people in Malawi and around the world. Helen made a lasting impression with her extraordinary life and her legacy will continue.
A Message from Helen
“We picked up a baby girl at the hospital. Her name was Isabel, and she was 13 months old but she looked more like a 3 month old. Her little arms and legs were so thin. I held her on our trip to the orphanage and she looked at me with her big brown eyes. I felt a connection with her, as though she was telling me something.
We stayed overnight at the orphanage, and we heard a baby crying in the night. The next morning, we found out it was Isabel. By the time we left to go back to the city she had settled. Two days later we received an email letting us know that Isabel had succumbed to her illnesses and had died. That was a defining moment for me. When i came home, I decided that I had to do something. I couldn’t forget the children I had met and the conditions they were living in. “
The Project Helps
The Malawi Water Project serves some of the poorest and most remote villages, with the least access to clean water, in Malawi, Africa. In Malawi, deaths due to water borne illness are particularly high in children under 5 years of age. Illness in older children and adults results in their inability to work, inability to attend school and costs for medication. The Malawi Water Project is an important program for these villages because it provides a most important resource clean water, which helps eliminate water borne illness. We work alongside families to improve their health. We do this by providing information on proper sanitation and hygiene, repairing non-working water wells (boreholes) and by offering household biosand water filters at a nominal cost. The program saves children’s lives by providing a basic necessity of life.
“Everybody needs water everyday” - Water is Life
An overview of the Malawi Water Project
Keep scrolling for further info; you can also visit our YouTube Channel to learn even more about this important project.
Get to know us
Learn more about the Malawi Water Project team:
Canadian board & volunteers, Malawian team and our partners and collaborators.
We’re an open book
We’ve consistently received the highest grades available for accountability and transparency.
100% goes to operations in Malawi
All Canadians working with the Malawi Water Project are volunteers, so100% of your money supports our operations in Malawi.
We prove every project
We track every dollar you raise, and show the projects you helped fund with photos and GPS.
