claudsspot: Just Add Water

Today's blog is going to be a bit more graphic in detail than some I have posted in the past. My passion for getting wells placed in the Western Province of Zambia is high. I have been vocal about the critical need for clean water, drinking water and water to just take a bath.

I was taken back this week when someone read an earlier blog and dismissed the need for water. However in fairness to this person they have never been without anything. They did read the blog. :)

As I have shared in past posts, water is a critical need in most of the world, clean water, pure water, healthy water. I cannot change the world but I can keep the focus on this remote corner of the world. With out water, education is always derailed. With out education the cycle of desperation and poverty continue. This particularly affect the girls.

A subject that is never talked about but plays a major role in the girls becoming educated is when puberty hits. Girls drop out of school between the ages of 11-13 due to lack sanitary menstrual products, and separate bathroom facilities in their schools. In the bush outside of Mongu no wells, no water close by, bathrooms at all make it even worse.

She lives in a hut and she has no way to clean herself if water is not available. If her period arrives on a test day and she cannot keep herself clean she will skip school. If she is made fun of by the boys in her class for blood on her skirt, the cultural shame is so great, she will not want to return to school. Without education she remains trapped in poverty. She is a 'sub-human' and the cycle continues.

She drops out school and is married off for the price of a cow(s).


This is a bathroom for a village hut.

What do they use? Rags, grass or anything absorbent is used. Most of the women in the villages we visit have only the clothes on their backs. They wear rags as clothing, so material is precious, nothing is tossed away. But water, water, water is needed to clean up their monthly menstrual flow. Dirty water, dirty everything!

If you are a woman think about your personal hygiene needs. Do you have a daughter in puberty or one that will be there one day? Can you imagine not being able to clean your self or her? Please focus with me on no water. Water changes everything, health, sanitation, education and a better life. Try desperately to put yourself in a desert, as a woman with no clean water.
What would you give to get water?

Hands of Hope ( www.handsofhope.org ) wants to get wells placed in 10 villages. A village has between 800-1000 people. Just 10 wells and 10,000 lives will be changed forever! 10,000 people, just imagine! One well costs $5000. It is built to last and changes lives with just a pump.

A well does not have to come from just one person, a well can be born if people are willing to give say $25 for each of their children, or grand children. These $25 gifts (or more :) :) ) add up quickly and you will have given life, hope and opportunity to a girl who has none.

What would you give UP to give water for a daughter, grand daughter, wife, sister just like yours?

Below is a 'good toilet'. The hole in the ground is cement vs dirt. This was a 'pay' facility.