2023 Autumn Appeal
Give a gift today to help bring safe clean water to communities like Margaret’s.
Donate Today
Help families access safe water
Will you give a donation today to help bring safe water to families whose lives are being devastated by disease?
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Without access to safe water, it is impossible to prevent disease.
We urgently need your help to ensure women and children have access to life-saving clean water.
"Safe water is essential"
Margaret (pictured right with her baby son Anafi) explains below, water was at the heart of the problem for families in her community in the southern region of Malawi. No water meant no washing, no clean clothes, sick children and families pushed further into poverty.
“We had a lot of problems accessing water, we had to wake up at 4am only to find a crowd of people already at the water point. Three villages were using the same well. The water was unhygienic because livestock could also use the water.
Our children would be late for school. By midday we could still be at the water source. Our lives were unhappy, we had diarrhoea, trachoma and all sorts of skin diseases.
My baby son Anafi got very sick due to water problems, he had very bad trachoma. I would go to the health centre almost every week. I was given the medication, but nothing seemed to change. I didn’t have peace of mind, everything stopped working even my farming business.”
What we have done
- Rehabilitation (repair and cleaning) of existing hand pump boreholes
- Building of new reticulated water supply systems including drilling of boreholes, submersible pumps, solar power,
- Pipework and tank installations and water tank tower construction
- Work with communities to form water committees for sustainable management of existing and new water sources
In communities like Margaret's where water is scarce, hygiene and sanitation are often side-lined as precious supplies are reserved for drinking or farming. Poor hygiene leads to bacterial infections like Trachoma, the world’s leading cause of preventable blindness. Left untreated, the infection can lead to irreversible blindness.
The situation feels desperate for mothers like Margaret but it is not hopeless.
We need to act now. Could you help us transform the health and wellbeing of families like Margaret’s by donating today?
All images above © Amref Health Africa/David Brazier