Matt Damon shares emotional story from Africa trip that echoed his bond with Ben Affleck

Matt Damon has reflected on a deeply personal moment from his humanitarian work, revealing that a young girl he met during a Water.org expedition in Africa reminded him of his own teenage dreams with longtime friend Ben Affleck.

The actor, 55, co-founded Water.org decades ago alongside Gary White, with the nonprofit focused on providing access to safe drinking water in communities living in poverty.

In an exclusive interview, Damon recalled one of his early field visits with the organization, which took him to a rural village in Zambia where he met a 14-year-old girl whose determination left a lasting impression on him.

“I went with a 14-year-old girl. I was waiting for her when she came home from school, we picked up our jerry cans, and we walked to this well, which was about a mile from her house, and we talked,” Damon said. “I really felt a connection to this kid, because she reminded me so much of Ben [Affleck] and I at that age.”

Damon explained that the girl spoke about her ambitions of leaving her village and pursuing a career as a nurse in the city, a mindset he immediately related to his own upbringing in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he and Affleck grew up just blocks apart.

“She was talking about how she was going to get out,” he said. “We were in this rural village in Zambia, and she’s like, ‘I’m getting out of here. I’m going to Lusaka. I’m going to be a nurse. I’m going to the big city,’ and it was the way Ben and I would talk about, ‘We’re going to New York. We’re going to be actors.’”

The actor said the encounter stayed with him long after the visit ended, particularly as he reflected on how access to clean water shaped the girl’s ability to attend school and pursue her ambitions.

“It wasn’t until I was driving away that I realized, had someone not sunk this borehole near her house, she wouldn’t be in school,” Damon said. “She would be spending her entire day trying to get water for her family.”

Damon said the experience reinforced his understanding of water scarcity as a global issue that goes beyond health concerns, describing it as something that can limit education and human potential.

He noted that the experience marked an early turning point in his understanding of the scale of the problem, which affects billions of people worldwide.

“There's over two billion people in the world who don't have access to clean water,” he said, adding that Water.org continues to explore new ways to expand access through partnerships and public initiatives.

Through the organization’s recent “Get Blue” campaign, Damon has also taken part in awareness efforts aimed at encouraging everyday actions that can support clean water access globally.

Looking back, Damon said the experience remains one he continues to think about, particularly for the way it connected his personal history with the realities faced by communities around the world.