Photos: (1- Kato's old source for drinking and bathing; 2 & 3 - the new water pump in Kato; 4-the village greeting us with palm fronds and singing and dancing)This afternoon came straight out of a storybook. Brad, our Field Coordinator, asked if I’d like to take a trip to a village where we recently dug a borehole. Sure, I’d love that! After a long and slightly harrowing trip into the country we pulled up to the small village known as Kato. To our surprise, the humming of the engine was replaced by the loud roar of children singing and dancing in cheer for our arrival. Palm fronds wildly waving, the kids sang a song they had designed specially for us. Absolutely surreal. They led us back through the village to the brand new pump that flowed with fresh, clean water.
Brad and our team of local staff had surveyed 49 villages in the area of Ganthier. As a part of the survey they tested all the water points and sent the samples to a lab for results. Those results have been catastrophic. They’ve found that the places where people bath and drink have included bacteria like ecoli. In one place it was 136 times the acceptable level. Bacteria like this can mean dysentery, cholera, elephantiasis, and total devastation to a village of only 300 people. For some, this is their only source of water.
What did it cost to keep water and life flowing through this village? $5,000. Yet another simple solution.
No comments:
Post a Comment