In Mozambique, less than half the population has access to clean drinking water. As a result, diarrhea and cholera, two diseases caused by unclean water and poor hygiene, are leading causes of child deaths in the country.

Today, I had the opportunity to see a MCC-supported program in Mozambique that is piping clean water into a community. I saw how lives can be transformed with access to clean water. While most of us in the United States take safe drinking water for granted, there are over one billion people around the world without access to clean water. But thanks to some amazing programs funded by the U.S. and others, some of the world’s poorest people here in Mozambique now have access to clean water, which is not only helping keep them healthy but also increasing their ability to earn money and attend school.

One neighborhood we toured has struggled with cholera outbreaks for many years. In January, with the help of the Global Fund and others, a clean water piping system was brought to the community. The results are remarkable- while last year over 1,000 people were stricken with cholera, by this year that number had fallen to 20.

Another benefit for the community has been more time for work and school, especially for women and girls. Women and children are often charged with the task of collecting water for the family. Before the new piping system was introduced, this meant they often had to spend hours each day collecting water. Now that each family has a stand pipe in their yard or home, attendance rates at schools have improved and women are able to dedicate more time to income-generating activities like gardening.

Clean water is one of the most basic human needs and it was very inspiring to see first-hand how US development assistance is literally saving and transforming lives here in Mozambique.

-Kim Smith

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 13th, 2008 at 4:52 pm and is filed under May Mozambique Trip, Mozambique, ONE, Water. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.