Access to clean water is the foundation of all development.
WITHOUT CLEAN WATER, THE POSSIBILITY OF BREAKING OUT OF THE CYCLE OF POVERTY IS INCREDIBLY SLIM. You won’t be able to grow food, you won’t be able to build housing, you won’t be able to stay healthy, you won’t be able to stay in school and you won’t be able to keep working.
With unclean water sources often miles from villages, many of the able bodied members of a community are forced to spend hours each day simply finding and transporting water. The typical container used for water collection in Africa, the jerry can, weighs over 40 pounds when it’s completely full.
Think about it: how hard it would be to carry a 5-year old child for three hours every day! And some women carry even more, up to 70 pounds in a barrel carried on the back. That’s like carrying a baby hippo.
Losing Time
The United Nations estimates that Africa alone loses 40 billion hours per year collecting water; that’s the same as a whole year’s worth of labor by France’s entire workforce! This is incredibly valuable time.
With much of one’s day already consumed by meeting basic needs, there isn’t time for much else. The hours lost to fetching water are often the difference between time to work and earn a living and not. Just think of all the things you would miss if you had to take three hours out each day to get water.
When a water solution is put into place, sustainable agriculture is possible. Children get back to school instead of collecting dirty water all day, or being sick from waterborne illnesses. Parents find more time to care for their families, expand minimal farming to sustainable levels, and even run a small business.
The social and economic effects caused by a lack of clean water are often the highest priorities of African communities when they speak of their own development. The World Health Organization (WHO) has shown this in economic terms: for every $1 invested in water and sanitation, there is an economic return of between $3 and $34!
THE SOLUTION:
ONE WELL PER VILLAGE:
We believe people, not water, can change everything! When you sponsor Well Drilling Project in Burkina Faso, Africa you’ll unlock the potential of an entire community