Current project
Safe drinking water for vulnerable girls and their families
Our most recent project is about supporting 42 vulnerable families in the prevention of water borne diseases. Starting with an awareness raising campaign about hygiene and water borne diseases, focusing on the importance of washing hands at key moments and treating drinking water at home. Those who complete the training will have access to a subsidized water filter for each family to treat their drinking water at home. Currently not all the families are washing hands at key moments and the water they have is not safe to drink.
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The most common options to treat drinking water at home are: boiling the water for at least 10 minutes, using chlorine to disinfect water or using a water filter. During the years we learned that people are used to switching off the fuel a few seconds after water starts boiling, to save time and fuel. This time is too short and parasite eggs survive. Awareness raising campaigns are not able to change this habit. People are not using chlorine because they do not like how the water tastes after this treatment. In the past we have been testing different water filters for home water treatment. Our local partner is familiar with low-cost water filters available in Ecuador that are locally made, effective, robust, easy to use and maintain. The filters cost 25USD (about 21 Euros) and can give up to 6000 liters of purified water. For a big family, this amount of safe drinking water is enough for about 2 years. The replacement component, for future additional 6000 liters, is available in the market for about 15USD. Because of the vulnerable economy of these families we propose a subsidy of 22USD (about 18,5 Euros) per family. With 780 Euros we should have this part covered. For the transport of the water filters we estimate a budget of 80USD (70 Euros aprox). For the awareness raising workshops a budget of 420USD (about 360 Euros). In total there will be a budget of 1210 Euros, about 29 Euros per family.
Our local partner
This project is implemented by the catholic community “Servidoras del Señor y de la Virgen de Matará (SSVM)”, which supports vulnerable girls in Guayaquil with schooling, shelter, meals and counseling. These girls are coming from 42 homes where parents passed away or are suffering from an illness that hinders them to take care of their children. Sara, one of our young volunteers, worked with these girls and identified the need to provide water filters to these 42 vulnerable families.
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