An estimated 2.1 billion people worldwide still do not have access to clean, fresh drinking water.
For Thandalwayao, a 12 year old girl living in Hwange province in Zimbabwe, this meant having to make an arduous 3.5km trek, twice a day with other women and girls down a steep, rocky, dangerous hill to collect dirty river water.
Carrying a five-litre container, this often left her exhausted and ill, affecting her schooling and her dreams of becoming a nurse. Thandolwayo said. “I went to school tired after collecting water and my performance at school was low.”
To help overcome this, her community teamed up with Caritas Australia partner Caritas Hwange to build a solar powered water pump to draw water up from the river through filtration stations and into two 10,000 litre storage tanks. A tap was set up near the local primary school providing the whole community with unlimited fresh, clean water which has transformed their lives and futures.
Thandalwayao said, “Life has really changed as a result of the tap because now I can bathe every day. I now go to school feeling fresh. The distance to collect water for the family has been drastically reduced. We now drink clean, safe water and diseases are no longer affecting us. I want to live a good life in the future”.
Pictures and Video shot on assignment for Caritas Australia