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Clean water gives hope in Myanmar

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The greatest concern for mother of four, Daw Than, is that her children are healthy and safe.

Unfortunately in Mon State, Myanmar lack of access to clean drinking water means children fall sick all too often.

That’s why for so long Daw Than’s daily routine consisted of walking to and from the nearest spring, three times a day and carrying back buckets of clean drinking water for her family.

“But when there was no water from the spring,” Daw Than said, “I had no choice but to get water from the river. This water was dirty and made my family sick.”

Daw Than told us there were countless times when she and her children were sick for up to a month with severe stomach aches, diarrhea and vomiting. Without the means to travel to the health clinic, she felt powerless and would watch as her children fell ill time and time again.

Today, Daw Than is one of more than 20 members on a Habitat supported Water, Sanitation and Health (WaSH) committee in her village. “I nominated myself to be on the committee because the water project helps my community get clean
water and I wanted to be part of that.”

Like the rest of her community, Daw Than and her family have greatly benefited from the WaSH project. Her family and others in the community have received at-home water filters, materials to build their own toilets and have access to a water tap system so they no longer need to spend time walking to the spring multiple times a day to collect water.

“My family and our community used to be sick at least ten times a year before when we had to drink dirty stream water. Now that we have easy access to the spring from the new water system, my family and I aren’t sick anymore. It is a great relief,” Daw Than adds.

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