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Eden High |
Eden High is a school located in Central Uganda that previously relied on an unsanitary well and nearby ponds for water. The cost of firewood to boil and sanitize the water became a burden so Principal Director of the school Moses Sizomu decided to take action. Believing clean water to be vital to the students’ education, Sizomu worked with water.org and microfinance partner, VAD (Voluntary Action for Development) to take out a small loan to fund the construction of water storage tanks and a water purification system. Now the students have access to clean water, because as Sizomu said: “Access to safe water is the most crucial aspect of running an institution, and every school needs safe drinking water nearby.”
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Dora and Moses
In Peru, Dora and Moses sell tires, oil, groceries, and even service vehicles. They use a series of garage-like buildings to do so but they were missing one thing: access to safe water. They lived too far to get water from the Chica River and had to spend 10% of their daily income at water vendors to get a daily supply of water. They also had no toilet or bathroom and were forced to instead use a hole in the ground. Four million people lack access to clean water in Peru but Dora and Moses are no longer part of that statistic since they were able to construct a water connection and bathroom with a loan that will be paid off in two years.
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Tabitha |
Tabitha used to have to pay her neighbors up to $70 per month to use their well until she took out a WaterCredit loan to buy her own rainwater catching system. The loan cost $40 per month and she paid it off in one year and now uses the extra money to run her salon in Nairobi, Kenya. Having to travel far or pay exorbitant fees for water prevents women from owning their own businesses but now Tabitha has one less obstacle in the way of her goals.
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EdnaThis is the journey that Edna used to have to go through to collect water in the Philippines. Through WaterCredit, Edna was able to construct a tap at home and now she has more time to work and can afford to send her daughter, Sarah, to school. Sarah will be graduating high school soon and will be the first in her family to attend college, an opportunity that would not have been possible without safe, affordable, accessible water.
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Mitu
In Bangladesh where water is scarce, Mitu and her family didn’t have access to clean water, forcing Mitu and her sister to walk 20 minutes to gather it, putting them at risk of harassment along the way. Mitu joined the Jalkuri Mohila Samitee women’s association and gave talks on how access to clean water and proper sanitation could help keep women and their families healthy. In 2014 she made this a reality, taking out a WaterCredit loan to construct a tube well, the primary means of accessing fresh water in Bangladesh. Mitu’s journey isn’t quite over, though, since her family still has to walk far from their home to use their latrine. In a terrible incident that illustrates the extra vulnerability women face in these situations, Mitu’s sister was sexually harassed on one of her trips to the latrine, which led to her fiancé calling off their engagement. Mitu would like to take out another loan to construct a toilet, saying, “While educating [people] on water, sanitation and hygiene…everyone must focus on the need for privacy, personal safety, and social dignity of the users. Particularly the women.”
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