 Margaret Atieno looks at me with a wide smile. Her joy is infectious. I smile back. Margaret is HIV positive and lives in the poverty-stricken area of Nyanza province, Kenya. She rarely has enough to eat. She has no access to clean running tap water. Margaret and her neighbors get their water from a nearby river - water, which harbors harmful bacteria.
Outside Margaret’s hut stands a small, but very important structure – a SODIS (Solar Water Disinfection) table. Margaret is among a group of HIV positive people in Nyanza who are actively using the SODIS process to purify their drinking water.
Today, there is one plastic bottle lying on the shiny metal sheet. Margaret shares the bottle with her small children. Because of crippling poverty, they cannot afford to buy more bottles.
“Someone gave me this one,” says Margaret. “It has been a great help to all of us,” she continues.
According to research, an estimated one third of the population in third world countries has no access to safe drinking water. This causes serious health hazards and exposes many to the risk of water-borne diseases. There are about 4 billion cases of diarrhea each year, out of which, 2.5 million end in death. The simple and cost effective SODIS method can reverse this trend. The Water School (TWS) in partnership with Christian Mission Aid (CMA) has joined the fight to reduce cases of water-borne diseases and save lives, through the Rays of Hope project.
Already in Nyanza province, TWS has trained 49 community leaders to carry the SODIS message especially to vulnerable HIV/AIDS orphans and people living with HIV/AIDS. TWS and CMA hope to reach 10,000 families in 2008 with clean water.
Because of SODIS, poor widows like Margaret can afford to lead healthy lives and save on medical bills, they cannot afford.Currently, TWS and CMA have a target in 2008, of reaching at least 6,000 homesteads in Kajiado district, Kenya. Our strategy is to train teachers, who will in turn pass on the knowledge to their students, who then take it back home to their families. In addition to training, TWS also hopes to equip each household and selected schools with a SODIS table and several PET bottles. With SODIS, TWS has just begun the fight against water-borne diseases in Nyanza and Kajiado areas.
To win this fight, we need your support. Will you join us? |
