Equipped to Share
Every day, Therese’s grand-daughter would collect firewood from the area around their home. This chore would save their small family the expense of purchasing charcoal. But, firewood is scarce in the area, and the small amount she was able to collect was only enough to cook their food. As a result, the dirty water they collected to drink remained untreated.
Therese knew that this dirty water was unhealthy, but she didn’t have any other options.
Therese is a widow in her fifties and she lives with her grandchildren in a rural sector of Rwanda. Access to clean water was a serious challenge to her family and her neighbors. But that changed when volunteers from the Water Project came to visit her. They told Therese that she had been selected to receive a SAM3 household filter. She participated in several trainings and then, she was able to bring the filter to her home.
When volunteers returned to visit Therese after she had been using the filter for several months, she was so grateful. She told them that even since receiving the filter, her family’s life had changed. They no longer had problems accessing clean water!
She also told us that she is sharing her filter with two of her neighbors who had similar problems to her own. When they need clean water, they bring their dirty water to her home so that they can filter it before using it to drink or cook.
Therese loves being able to share her filter with her community.
She told us, “I also like having the water with people who pass by, they are sometimes thirsty and ask for a cup of water which I am always happy to offer them. This would not have been possible before, because I would be ashamed of how dirty the water is. I would simply say that there is no water in the house to avoid sharing what I think is unhealthy to another person.”
Therese reminds us that it truly is a gift to be equipped to share health with others.
