Antonio Jaén Osuna
In April 2016, three departments at Dublin’s Temple Street Children’s Hospital were left without drinking water after elevated chlorine levels contaminated the supply. Months later, elective surgeries at University Hospital Waterford were postponed for 24 hours due to problems at a local reservoir.
Water shortages in Irish hospitals are rare, and when they do occur, the disruption is quickly resolved. However, the situation in countries such as Malawi is very different. Some rural health centres have had no access to water for years, and their only option is to use the borehole, which is often far away and difficult to reach.
This reality inspired a research project called SURG-Water. The concept is simple: to focus on the needs of the thousands of women in Malawi (and millions worldwide) who have no access to water when they go into labour. The project collects rainwater and disinfects it using sunlight in a process known as SODIS. Thanks to this technology, rural health centres can access safe water for women’s hygiene before and after delivery, and for maintaining proper hygiene in maternity wards.
However, interviews with health centre staff revealed some further potential challenges: in Malawi, rainwater is not always trusted and is associated with illness in some communities. Unlike neighbouring countries such as Kenya or Tanzania, where rainwater harvesting has long been integrated into daily life, Malawi has little cultural tradition or public awareness around collecting rainwater.
So, how can the conversation about the benefits of harvesting rainwater be instigated? How can it be explained in a comprehensive and understandable way that something as free as rainwater can have a huge impact on communities if it is systematically collected? We needed a plan.
In the summer of 2025, the SURG-Water team met with one of Malawi’s most influential musicians at a hotel in the capital city of Lilongwe. Having meteorically risen to fame, Zeze Kingston, also known as the Mayor of Malawi, has become a role model for amapiano (a genre of house music) fans of all ages across the region in recent years. People in Malawi listen to whatever he has to say.
Zeze appeared in the hotel bar, accompanied by his PR, bodyguard and wife/manager. He had a broad smile on his face, was wearing sunglasses and had the swagger of a star. We explained the project to him, the obstacles we had encountered along the way, and our plan to launch a communications campaign called ‘Catch the Rain’. This campaign aims to demonstrate the importance of rainwater harvesting through music rather than lectures or speeches.
We asked Zeze to help us create an earworm of a song that could represent that change, an anthem to help young people connect with it. ‘You'll have it in three days,’ Zeze replied. Three months later, the song ‘Madzi’ (water in Chichewa) was born.
We want the song to be played on the radio, in clubs, restaurants, buses, cars and burn houses. But we also want to reach university students from rural areas who now live in the city. Those who, when they return home, find that there is no water with which to water the vegetable patch or wash their clothes. These young people regularly use social media, engaging with content that resonates with them and sharing it among themselves. We wanted to do something they hadn’t seen before. It had to be completely different from anything Zeze had produced to date. So we created a music video with a simple yet powerful message that would gradually sink in, like rainwater itself, to reach these young people, the future of Malawi.
We sent the video to Zeze. Minutes after receiving it, he replied, ‘Brother, this is dope!’
In April 2016, three departments at Dublin’s Temple Street Children’s Hospital were left without drinking water after elevated chlorine levels contaminated the supply. Months later, elective surgeries at University Hospital Waterford were postponed for 24 hours due to problems at a local reservoir.
Water shortages in Irish hospitals are rare, and when they do occur, the disruption is quickly resolved. However, the situation in countries such as Malawi is very different. Some rural health centres have had no access to water for years, and their only option is to use the borehole, which is often far away and difficult to reach. This reality inspired a research project called SURG-Water. The concept is simple: to focus on the needs of the thousands of women in Malawi (and millions worldwide) who have no access to water when they go into labour. The project collects rainwater and disinfects it using sunlight in a process known as SODIS. Thanks to this technology, rural health centres can access safe water for women’s hygiene before and after delivery, and for maintaining proper hygiene in maternity wards.
However, interviews with health centre staff revealed some further potential challenges: in Malawi, rainwater is not always trusted and is associated with illness in some communities. Unlike neighbouring countries such as Kenya or Tanzania, where rainwater harvesting has long been integrated into daily life, Malawi has little cultural tradition or public awareness around collecting rainwater.
So, how can the conversation about the benefits of harvesting rainwater be instigated? How can it be explained in a comprehensive and understandable way that something as free as rainwater can have a huge impact on communities if it is systematically collected? We needed a plan.
In the summer of 2025, the SURG-Water team met with one of Malawi’s most influential musicians at a hotel in the capital city of Lilongwe. Having meteorically risen to fame, Zeze Kingston, also known as the Mayor of Malawi, has become a role model for amapiano (a genre of house music) fans of all ages across the region in recent years. People in Malawi listen to whatever he has to say.
Zeze appeared in the hotel bar, accompanied by his PR, bodyguard and wife/manager. He had a broad smile on his face, was wearing sunglasses and had the swagger of a star. We explained the project to him, the obstacles we had encountered along the way, and our plan to launch a communications campaign called ‘Catch the Rain’. This campaign aims to demonstrate the importance of rainwater harvesting through music rather than lectures or speeches.
We asked Zeze to help us create an earworm of a song that could represent that change, an anthem to help young people connect with it. ‘You'll have it in three days,’ Zeze replied. Three months later, the song ‘Madzi’ (water in Chichewa) was born.
We want the song to be played on the radio, in clubs, restaurants, buses, cars and burn houses. But we also want to reach university students from rural areas who now live in the city. Those who, when they return home, find that there is no water with which to water the vegetable patch or wash their clothes. These young people regularly use social media, engaging with content that resonates with them and sharing it among themselves. We wanted to do something they hadn’t seen before. It had to be completely different from anything Zeze had produced to date. So we created a music video with a simple yet powerful message that would gradually sink in, like rainwater itself, to reach these young people, the future of Malawi.
We sent the video to Zeze. Minutes after receiving it, he replied, ‘Brother, this is dope!’
But neither the song nor the video is the most important part of the ‘Catch the rain’ campaign. What beats at the heart of this initiative is that, unlike traditional approaches, it places young people at the centre, not just as participants, but as drivers of social change. This model involves young people as co-creators of the transformation, offering a fresh approach to behavioural change projects. ‘Madzi’ connects with people’s emotions, culture and the context in which they live.
Is a song and a video enough to change people’s attitudes towards rainwater harvesting? Perhaps not. We don’t know yet. But sometimes, the most incredible things begin with a conversation – or with an earworm of a song.
Is a song and a video enough to change people’s attitudes towards rainwater harvesting? Perhaps not. We don’t know yet. But sometimes, the most incredible things begin with a conversation – or with an earworm of a song.
Author
Antonio Jaén Osuna is Communications Coordinator with the SURG-Water project
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