Epiphanie is a 52-year-old widow living with her five children and four grandchildren in Rwanda. Because she doesn’t own any land, Epiphanie and some of her children work as day laborers at neighboring farms.
Clean water is not available in her community, so they draw water from a nearby swamp. They were going to the health clinic 3-4 times a month because of diarrhea caused by water-borne diseases. Epiphanie and her children were frequently unable to work. And, her six-year-old grandson dropped out of school because he was sick too often to attend.
In September of 2015 her family received a SAMIII water filter from 20 Liters and World Relief. Since then, the family members have become healthier and are able to work more regularly because their water is free of bacteria and parasites. The health of the six-year-old has improved so much that he returned to school in February.
Epiphanie considers it a miracle that she and her family have not been sick since they started using the water filter. She believes the filter is a blessing from God because she had been praying for God’s help; she had had no idea how they would continue to pay for the frequent health clinic visits.
Volunteers have been visiting Epiphanie regularly to make sure the filter is working properly. On their four-month visit, Epiphanie had great news to share. She had used the money her family was able to earn from working more and saving on medical expenses to buy three goats, which cost about $33.
Epiphanie is very happy that her family is finally getting ahead. She is grateful to World Relief and 20 Liters for her filter which is giving them not only health, but economic prosperity.
