We happened on the concept of bottling spring water after visiting the Teen Challenge UK facility and seing a really amazing operation there. We have a great spring on Emafini and tried tapping into it, with very rudimentary skills and a low budget.

The students in the Lighthouse and water engineer consultants, from a major corporation, working with the bigger bottling companies in Johannesburg and throughout Africa, helped us to devise a method of collecting the water, storing it and bottling it.

We struggled for four years. Finally we managed to get it right and we now have what we think, objectively of course, is the best water product in the region. The taste is fantastic. The ph level is almost perfect at 7.05 and it is incredibly soft.

To sell the water, well, that is the real test.We suddenly realized we were in the real world and were competing with the biggest bottling companies worldwide who have their own fridges and huge marketing budgets. We quickly realized that we had no chance, especially when the companies are blowing their own pet bottles, bringing their product cost to a whole rand (15 United States cents) less a unit than ours.

We focused in an area no one else was in--supplying water coolers to companies and providing water for those water coolers. A donor in the USA helped us buy the first significant batch of coolers and we were on our way. The bottling unit now is stable and supporting the students as intended. All the work is done by graduates and students of the Lighthouse.

We are hoping to get in on supplying bigger, socially aware (CSI) companies with water bottles.

PO Box 1141, Mbabane, Kingdom of Swaziland

Phone: (268) 404-7685 or (268) 404-5452

Email: lighthouse@swazi.net.co.sz or wardkh@realnet.co.sz