Water affords opportunity

Provide Clean Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Fund
January 27, 2017

Water.org

Marical and her husband are working hard to give their children opportunities above and beyond what the kids in their village experience. The first step to making this difference possible is access to safe water.

A mound of rubber flip-flop parts covered the ground outside Marical’s entryway. Women and their children from two-years to ten, sat in a circle around the pile, assembling the shoes for a local manufacturer. Marical sat on a stool holding her 3 year old daughter and 7 month old baby while she stacked shoes. It was a school day, but the school-age children in this village did not attend. Their families are too poor pay the schooling fee. So instead, the kids contribute to their families’ household incomes - spending their days making shoes with their moms, rather than reading and writing at school.

Marical hopes this will not be the life her son and daughter grow up to live. She and her husband are working hard to give them opportunities above and beyond what the kids in their village experience. The first step to making this difference possible is access to safe water.

Water is an expense the couple have paid a significant portion of their income to have at home. They previously paid around $9USD each week for water from a water vendor. They realized if they could cut that expense down, they could save money for their children’s futures. However, having enough money upfront to put a water tap in their home was a challenge. Through something we call WaterCredit, Marical and her husband were empowered to finance a tap for their home, freeing monthly income for savings.

Now, unlike the other mothers in her village who do not have access to safe water yet, Marical can apply the money she earns making shoes toward the tuition she needs to send her daughter to school next year.

Give access to safe water credit for the opportunities it affords; the ability to go to school and look to a bright future.

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