Nyiraneza is a mother of four living in the Gashora Sector of Rwanda. She and her husband moved to Gashora eight years ago. The first challenge they faced was finding clean, safe drinking water for their family.
In Nyiraneza’s family, safe water is a very high priority. Her husband suffers from a chronic illness that requires that he drink clean water. Nyiraneza also wants her children to drink safe water, but providing it for the family is incredibly costly. They either must buy bottled water or purchase firewood to boil their water before use. She estimates they spend around $10 USD each month on water. For the average U.S. household, that would be equivalent to a $1,500 monthly water bill.
Her family had tried to find other solutions to access clean water. They had even received a filter from another program in the past. But that filter lasted less than a month before it stopped working. Nyiraneza was becoming hopeless thinking that she would not be able to continue to afford to buy water.
Then, in June 2017, her family was selected by local leaders and water project volunteers to receive a water filter through 20 Liters. At first, she was skeptical. She thought maybe she would be asked to pay for the filter or that the filter would break quickly.
The volunteers assured her that the only cost for the filter was attending the trainings on health, hygiene and filter maintenance. The volunteers also encouraged her to share the clean water with her neighbors who did not have a filter. Nyiraneza has now been using her 20 Liters filter for more than 8 months – and she is confident that her family will be able to continue to use it for more than 10 years.
Nyiraneza had started to believe that a miracle like this couldn’t happen, but now she is grateful to God, her church, and everyone who has contributed to make clean water a reality for her family.
