About Us
GET EXCITED!
Our partner: HUG Energy
## Light and water for our communities in Africa
LivingWater MicroFinance helps women farmers in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Nigeria build a better life through small loans, shared farms and vocational training. Our sister organization, HUG Energy, is developing technology to bring these same communities something most of them have never had: reliable electricity.
## The need
According to the International Energy Agency, about 730 million people still lived without electricity in 2024, and roughly 8 in 10 of them live in sub-Saharan Africa. Without power, a clinic cannot keep vaccines cold, a school cannot run a computer lab, and a farmer cannot pump water or store a harvest.
## Power from water already flowing
Two HUG inventions, the HUG Funnel and the HUG Generator, draw power from water already flowing downhill at small dams, waterfalls and rivers, without large reservoirs or imported fuel. They are designed to be built and maintained locally, and a second gravity-fed pipe can carry irrigation water to nearby fields.
That is why every Living Water settlement community is sited near a dam or waterfall. HUG is designed to power:
PLEASE NOTE: WE CANNOT ILLUSTRATE OUR NEW PATENTS UNTIL THEY ARE REGISTERED
BUILDING COMMUNITY
Homes for 30 women farmers and their families
Each settlement community houses 30 women farmers and their families in homes beside the fields they farm. Electricity replaces kerosene lamps with safe, clean light, so children can study after dark and families can charge phones, run a fan and keep food cold.
A vocational school with a computer lab and training in tractor mechanics
The school at the heart of each community operates its enterprises and trains young people for work. Its computer lab needs steady power for computers and internet access, and offers courses to students and, during school holidays, to the wider region. Its workshop trains tractor operators and mechanics on donated tractors, using electric welders, compressors and power tools. The school supports itself through tuition, tractor rental and computer services.
Tree nurseries, rabbit and fish farms, with cold storage for produce and meat
Nurseries raise orchard and nut-tree seedlings for planting on the members’ farms. The rabbit farm provides meat, and fur that the community sews into hats for sale; fish ponds need electric pumps to keep the water fresh and moving. Cold storage keeps fruit, meat and fish fresh until market day, so less of the harvest spoils and families can sell at better prices.
Irrigation for community farms that begin at 50 hectares and can grow to 600
Each 1.5-acre block is farmed by six women, in rows of fruit and nut trees with vegetables grown between them. The first 50 hectares are chosen near a dam or waterfall, with room to grow to 600. HUG’s second, gravity-fed pipe carries water from above the drop down to the fields, so crops can keep growing through the dry season without buying fuel for pumps.
Each community is owned by its own national body (Living Water Kenya, Living Water Uganda, Living Water Nigeria and Eau Vivante du Rwanda), so the benefit stays in the hands of the people who live there.
PLEASE NOTE: WE CANNOT ILLUSTRATE OUR NEW PATENTS UNTIL THEY ARE REGISTERED
WAVE ENERGY BREAKWATER THE WEB
## Beyond Africa: the islands
HUG Energy's third invention, the Wave Energy Breakwater, is designed for island communities that rely on costly imported diesel for their electricity. Like any breakwater it shelters a harbour or shoreline, while turning the motion of ocean waves into a local, steady supply of power.
## Why we do this
We see this work as stewardship of God’s creation and service to our neighbours in need. Bringing light and water to a village is a practical way of loving our neighbour.
“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”
Matthew 5:16 (KJV)
Where we are today: the HUG inventions are in development. Patent applications are being prepared in Canada and the United States, and prototypes are planned. The deployments described here are our intended path, not completed projects.
To learn more or to support this work, visit hugenergy.ca
PLEASE NOTE: WE CANNOT ILLUSTRATE OUR NEW PATENTS UNTIL THEY ARE REGISTERED