Globally, at least 2 billion people use a drinking water source contaminated with feces. This is far more than the 159 million people who still use surface water as their primary source of water. This is because in many places – both urban and rural – the water coming from a tap is untreated and unsafe.
Samuel and his wife Esperance live in the Gashora sector of Rwanda. Together, they have seven children between the ages of nine and one years old. They live near a public tap and since they knew that the local lake water was very dirty, they regularly got their water from the public tap. Despite this, they still struggled with diarrhea and other water-borne illnesses. They didn’t realize that the water from the tap was untreated and still unsafe for their family to drink.
Then, their church informed them that through the Water Project, their family was selected to receive a SAM3 Household Filter. Samuel attended several trainings before receiving the filter, which now sits in the front room of their home. In this spot, the whole family can get a glass of clean water whenever they need a drink.
It has been two years since Esperance, Samuel, or any of the children have suffered from a water-borne illness. Samuel tells volunteers that he cannot imagine life without the filter because of the benefits it provides to his family, it even makes the water tastes better.
