When Marlton resident Karen Cohen set out to volunteer in South Africa in August 2023, Madagascar had never been part of the plan. She had booked a three-week trip and googled, “How to volunteer in Africa?” in the wake of her father’s passing last year.
Local villagers in Madagascar use the water pump and well installed by Philawell earlier this year.
Karen Cohen delivered 300 pairs of flipflops to the Antandroy tribe during her second trip in December 2023.
The tribe also received school supplies, legoes and other toys during her trips.
Earlier this year, Philawell built two rain-reliant wells with water pumps for the villagers in the Antandroy Tribe.
Since visiting Madagascar, Cohen has been on a mission to improve the living conditions of the people living near this river. To do this, she founded the nonprofit “Philawell” with Zafison as her manager to continue to make improvements to the area. She has returned to Madagascar three more times in the past year and has self-funded and delivered 300 pairs of flipflops during her second trip and had two rain-reliant wells installed to increase the amount of water they would be able to store and have access to when it rains during her third trip. When full, the wells can provide clean water for the villagers for around two to three months.
“The problem is, ‘rain sustainable’, now there’s a really bad drought, the worst it’s ever been. They have to go back to the river which means you’re now taking hours out of your time to go to this one river that’s limited on water and it’s not even clean.”
Prior to the wells being put in, they would collect rain in buckets.
During her most recent trip in August 2024, she distributed dresses for the cause “Drive By Surprise” to deliver items that were donated from local organizations, family and friends.
Her most current project is funding a water truck that can deliver water from the river to the villagers more easily until the rain returns, which is expected to be in late September or October, though Zafison noted that sometimes even in October and November, there isn’t rain.
“I learned that water is extremely precious for this earth, and I’m learning without water, you can’t have crops,” Cohen said. “You can’t have a school with healthy children, or a healthy teacher. Honestly, water is life. It is that precious.”
To learn more about how to support upcoming projects, visit https://philawell.org.
