Dit artikel kan hier in het Nederlands gelezen worden.
The majority of the Ugandan rural population has no access to safe drinking water. While water is known to be the source of life, this is nothing but heart breaking! For water, many people depend on small lakes that often contain ditch-water. Often, they have to walk several hours to reach a place where they can fill their jerry cans with contaminated water. Also, most often it is the children who are being sent for this task. Not only is it extremely heavy for children to carry a water filled jerry can back home, also it unfortunately means that they are structurally missing many precious hours at school. The countless amounts of bacteria that contaminate the water hugely affect the overall health of the rural population and causes that they cannot function well in their daily lives.
On average 55-60 percent of the human body consists of water (for babies that percentage is even 75!) and for or a good health it is of course important for that level to be maintained. Yet, the sad truth is that dehydration belongs to the leading causes of death in developing countries. When taking into consideration that Uganda is such a developing country, which has on top of that even the youngest population in the world (the median age of the population is not even 16 years!), it is not so difficult to conclude that the living circumstances for many people are extremely difficult and improvements badly needed.
Therefore, we are happy to share that over the last months three drinking water filters, developed in the Netherlands for the purpose of providing safe drinking water in situations where access is lacking, have successfully been used at Lake Bunyonyi. The filters absorb substances in water dissolved and capture 99,99999 % of micro-organisms, such as bacteria. The picture shows how it works. The filter (that consists of 100% organic Activated carbon in combination with a composition of Ultra membranes) is placed in contaminated water. It absorbs the water and purifies it; thereafter the water is transferred through a tube and collected in a clean basin/jerrycan.
One of the filters was used at our Swimming Instruction Centre to purify the water from the lake that is used for the preparation of the hot tea that we offer the children after their swimming lessons. A second filter was used by a family that lives directly at the lake and depends on it for water. The third filter was used at a small restaurant, also located directly at the lake, to prepare fresh water for their customers. (Sadly though, after the filter had been in use for some time, it got lost in disastrous weather circumstances that destroyed the entire restaurant.)
In all three situations the water filters turned out to function just fantastic! The water looks fresh and clear after purifying and the taste of it is great! Therefore, we are now investigating how we can expand this initiative.
Of course the restaurant owner, if he succeeds in rebuilding his place and continuing his business, will receive a new waterfilter.
To our goals we have also added to realize rainwater collection systems at primary schools in the area; a selection criterion in this, among others, will be how many people from the community can, apart from pupils, benefit from the system. In rural Uganda, it’s quite common for families who live in the vicinity of a school to make use of its water supply.
If you want to help us achieving our goals, please visit the chapter ‘How You Can Help’ on our website. Every contribution, no matter how small or large, will be highly appreciated!
HWMCO-Nederland & NiCA Foundation
‘We Fight Poverty by Bringing Development.’
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