At every filter distribution, there is a line of eager mothers ready for the transformation that clean water technology makes for their families. In rural Uganda, many mothers spend most of their day collecting water - water that is not safe to drink. Women and children in Maliba often report walking up to 4.5 miles to a water source. When they get there, they fill jerry cans with approximately 40 pounds of water and then carry the containers 4.5 miles home.
Clay Hess is a WTW fellow currently living in Uganda and working alongside community leaders to identify water challenges and needs and help implement sustainable solutions. During a recent distribution of 74 filters, Clay met 47-year-old mother, Safari.
As a child Safari was always sick. As she got older, she thought she was immune to illnesses and parasites. That wasn’t the case. For the past five months, Safari suffered from typhoid and spent $122 USD on treatments. With a family of her own now, clean water means everything to her.
With her sickness, Safari wasn’t able to gather firewood for boiling the water. She couldn’t help her family get bottled water because all the money went to her treatments. Water became a heavy, heavy burden riddled with stress for the source of life.
Recently, at a filter distribution, Safari finally received her filter along with all of the other excited mothers.
“Safari is grateful for her family’s filter,” Clay said. “The filter will prevent any harmful bacteria and protozoa from entering the drinking water which will exponentially improve Safari’s health, as well as her children and grandchildren’s health. Safari’s story is similar to so many, and every single one continues to inspire me to reach more and more people with access to clean drinking water. Clean water truly is life.”
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