“I prayed to have a latrine.”
That’s not the kind of prayer that Canadians often hear, but for Ing Sarim, a 54-year old wife and mother in Cambodia, it was heartfelt. Sarim lives with her husband and five children in a small village, farming and making palm sugar to earn an income.
After receiving, using, and maintaining a BioSand Water Filter that provided them with clean water, Sarim’s family was pleased to also receive a set of latrine construction materials. “I am happy because my family won’t have to defecate in the open rice field, in a bushy area or use someone else’s latrine anymore,” she said.
Her family chose to invest some of their meager savings in the construction project, adding a bathing area that will improve health and hygiene. “I am very happy to have an additional sanitation facility added on top of safe drinking water,” she said.
Sarim observed that having the latrine and bathing place together would help her family’s hygiene, and she is happy that she won’t have to be embarrassed about defecating in an open field or afraid, while there, of being bitten by snakes.
Speaking at a health and hygiene presentation to 75 of her fellow villagers, Sarim promised, “I will use my new knowledge from lessons on sanitation and hygiene . . . so that my family’s health will improve increasingly, helping me to reach for my dreams.”
Save the life of a child or adult in a developing country by providing safe water along with health and hygiene education that will help protect them from deadly, but preventable, diseases. Simple and effective water filters, community wells and water storage solutions, and sanitation facilities can all drastically improve lives and open doors to share the eternal hope of Jesus Christ.