Water and Sanitation

Water is a basic need for all communities and essential commodity for all living things. Water is necessary for cooking, washing, agriculture, and even for drinking. Most People in the rural areas (villages) do not have access to any type of improved sanitation facility. The most affected are the children dying due to diarrhea diseases. Living in extreme conditions of poverty with no proper sanitation services, access to sufficient safe water and sanitary disposal facilities is limited. Lack of hygiene is very high as children and even their parents go in the bush to release themselves. You could imagine a barefooted child go to the same spot everyday and some have even marked there positions.

• We encourage water catchments technologies e.g. use of water tanks to trap rain water.
• Sensitize on dangers of consuming surface water without treatment thus we encourage the use of water treatment chemicals and boiling before consumption.
• Campaign on proper refuse disposal and building pit latrines to reduce chances of open water pollution.

The community stakeholders are involved in water conservation initiatives and missioners can supplement their efforts by e.g. assisting to build and install BioSand Water Filters to ensure clean and drinkable water supply for the locals. The filters are simple to build and maintain, and involve components that are long-lasting and generally available. This makes the filters inexpensive, durable and sustainable. The filters are ideal when people’s only source of drinking water is what they skim from creeks, ponds and/or ditches. This “surface” water is usually contaminated, leaving people at risk of deadly diarrhea, dysentery, cholera, or other maladies. Filtering water through a BioSand Water Filter reduces contaminants that cause these diseases, and the community experiences a healthier, better quality of life that comes with drinking safe water.  Profound ImpactThe missioners will teach local people how to build, install and maintain filters, as well as another important part of the household water filter program: health and hygiene education. “There’s not much point in having clean water if you still have dirty hands,” “You just contaminate the water all over again.” Missioners will help educate the community on the importance of proper hygiene – including using latrines and consistently washing hands before touching food or drink. These interactions, as well as spending most of their spare time getting to know your neighbors, will help build life-altering relationships.