Brittany Harris Returns to Malawi for Her Ninth Trip with Water Wells for Africa

From a Thanksgiving Pie Fundraiser at Age 9 to a Career in Clean Water

HOUSTON, TX, UNITED STATES, November 11, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — The Friendswood native, whose childhood fundraiser “Brittany’s Dream” raised a quarter of a million dollars, will revisit villages that clinics flagged as high-risk for waterborne disease and that now have WWFA wells.

— This November, Brittany Harris will travel to Malawi for the ninth time, returning to the rural area she has worked to help since she was nine years old. Harris, who works full-time with Water Wells for Africa (WWFA), started raising money for clean water as a third grader in Friendswood, Texas, by baking pies in her family’s kitchen over Thanksgiving break.

The upcoming trip marks a milestone for the organization’s health work. Harris and the WWFA team will visit villages that local health clinics identified as the hardest hit by waterborne illness — communities that have since received WWFA wells.

A childhood dream takes shape

At nine, Harris attended a concert at her church in Friendswood and watched a video about families in Africa drinking dirty water. That same school year, her class was studying Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, and her teacher asked each student to write a dream statement of their own. Hers read: “I have a dream that kids in Africa will have clean water.” Brittany’s Dream was born.

What began as a small bake sale grew into a community tradition. By high school, Harris and a crew of volunteers of all ages were baking 300 to 500 pies and 2,000 to 3,000 cake balls in four days over their Thanksgiving vacation, using ingredients donated through school drives and by her parents. Desserts had no set price; donors gave what they felt led to give, and every dollar went to water wells. From 2013 to 2026, Brittany’s Dream raised a quarter of a million dollars.

At 13, while preparing a presentation for her church, Harris came across a video called “The Malawi Mountain Project.” Her mother recognized it immediately: she had traveled to Malawi three times in her twenties to help install wells, led by her mission’s pastor, Kurt Dahlin. The family reconnected with Dahlin, and Harris began raising funds for Water Wells for Africa that same year.

Harris also organized three Walks for Water in Friendswood and one in College Station, raising funds and awareness of the long daily walks many women make to fetch water.

From volunteer to full-time mission
Harris studied marketing with a focus on professional selling at Texas A&M University, earning a minor in entrepreneurship. She joined WWFA as an intern in the spring of her sophomore year and continued part-time through graduation, handling social media and outreach.

As a senior, she was job-hunting in marketing, expecting water wells to remain a passion outside her career. Then Dahlin called with an offer to make it her full-time work.

“Never in my life did I dream that my childhood passion would become my career,” Harris said. “Work is a joy every day because I get to do what I love: bringing people clean water.”

Her family has been part of the story from the start. Her mother traveled with her to Malawi twice, at ages 14 and 16, and her sister Jordynne joined her first trip. For years, the whole family gave up their Thanksgiving break, and their home, to bake for Brittany’s Dream. Harris’s first two trips were as a donor, her third as an intern, and she has since made five more as a WWFA staff member.

A full-circle return to Malawi
In February, the WWFA team visited local health clinics to study waterborne diseases such as cholera. The team gave each clinic a list of WWFA villages in its area and asked for illness reports. The result: clinics reported no waterborne illness cases in any village where WWFA had installed a well.

The team also asked clinics to name the villages most affected by waterborne illness, and WWFA began installing wells in those communities. In November, Harris will return to several of these high-priority villages and plans to meet again with clinic staff to measure how clean water is changing community health.

“Every trip to Malawi is different,” Harris said. “This one is especially meaningful because we’re going back to the clinics we visited before. It’s a real full-circle moment for us.”
“Kids can make a difference at any age”

Harris hopes her story shows young people that age is no barrier to changing lives across the world.
“It’s easy to come up with excuses for why you can’t do something,” she said. “But kids can make a difference at any age. All they must do is act, and it doesn’t have to be big.”

Young people will be inspired to hear that her Thanksgiving pie fundraiser ended up raising enough money to install over 30 water wells that serve 15,000 people.”

About Brittany Harris
Brittany Harris is a full-time team member with Water Wells for Africa and the founder of Brittany’s Dream, a Thanksgiving dessert fundraiser she launched at age nine in Friendswood, Texas. A graduate of Texas A&M University with a degree in marketing and a minor in entrepreneurship, she lives in Houston and has traveled to Malawi eight times.

About Water Wells for Africa
Water Wells for Africa (WWFA) provides clean, safe drinking water to rural communities in Malawi through well installation. Learn more at waterwellsforafrica.org.
Media contact
Mike Mena mike@ileanainternational.com · 310-913-0625
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Michael T Mena
Ileana International
+1 310-913-0625

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