Editor’s Note: Join World Vision for the 2018 Global #6Kforwater on May 19 and bring life-changing clean water to communities in need.
Globally, 844 million people live without a safe water supply close to home.
And with World Water Day on March 22, World Vision recognizes the life-saving importance of clean water. In fact, we’re committed to bringing universal access to clean water to all our program areas in Rwanda by the end of 2022, and to every person, everywhere we work, by 2030—a total of 50 million people.
“We’re close to realizing the goal of bringing clean water in Rwanda,” says World Vision U.S. President Rich Stearns. “My dream is to finish the job.”
Why set such a big goal? It’s because we believe every child deserves clean water at home, at school, and at their community health clinic. “And that’s not a matter of convenience, it’s a matter of life and death,” says Rich.
The burden of dirty water falls on women and girls
Women and girls are most affected by the difficulty in accessing clean water.
Women and girls are most affected by the difficulty in accessing clean water. They spend an estimated 200 million hours hauling water every day, with the average African woman walking six kilometers to carry home 40 pounds of water. Their daily walk for water robs girls of an education and moms of the chance to make a better life for their families. You can read about five-year-old Grace, who lives in in Uganda, walks six kilometers for water, and struggles to attend school.
Every day, more than 800 children die from diarrhea caused by contaminated water, poor sanitation, and unsafe hygiene practices. With clean water and proper sanitation and hygiene practices, these deaths are preventable. That’s why when World Vision comes to a new community, we often start by providing clean water, then address education, health, and economic empowerment to bring sustainable transformation to the people and communities we serve.
Starting in Rwanda: Universal water access
One million people in 2,000 communities where World Vision works in Rwanda lack basic access to clean water. We are committed to bringing water to every one of them.
People like Angelique Hakurinka make us believe this enormous goal can be reached Angelique, 33, who lives in Gashora, near Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, helped bring water to her community as a member of a manual well-drilling team trained and equipped by World Vision. Where appropriate, manually-drilled wells can save 80 percent of the cost of drilling with a heavy rig.
For Angelique, who supports three children, and for her community, partnering with World Vision for clean water has been a life-changing experience. “I thank World Vision,” Angelique says. “Besides giving us water, they gave us a chance to work for ourselves.”
In addition to community partners like Angelique, World Vision has strong government and private sector partners also committed to universal water access. As the leading nongovernmental organization providing clean water access in Rwanda, we have the capability and a proven community-based model for success.
We also have momentum. From 2012 to 2017, World Vision brought water and sanitation services to more than 340,000 people in Rwanda at a cost of $22.6 million. Globally, in the past five years, we’ve brought clean water to 14 million people. Every 10 seconds we reach one new person with clean water. With the help of our donors and partners, we can meet our 2030 goal of bringing clean water to 50 million people.
An uphill climb to provide water for Rwanda
Rwanda, a small country of 11 million people in east-central Africa, has made progress in development, including providing many citizens with access to clean water. Yet, less than half of the rural population has adequate water coverage, and only 61 percent of the rapidly growing urban population draws water from improved sources. That means about six million people in Rwanda struggle to access the water they need.
Rwanda is still emerging from the shadow of the 1994 genocide when 800,000 to one million people were killed in ethnic conflict over three months. World Vision began working in Rwanda that year, responding to intense humanitarian needs as well as needs for healing and peace building—for Christ’s living water as well as clean water.
In all we do in Rwanda, World Vision strives for children and families to have good health, education, child protection, spiritual nurture, and economic opportunities to live out their God-given potential. Community members contribute time and labor to build and manage their water systems. And World Vision teaches people in project areas about sanitation and hygiene practices to prevent water-related diseases.
And with clean water, lives are changed and blessings flow.
A form of this article originally appeared here.
