2014

In March 2014 the 12 Australian Volunteers met the children from the Hani Park Squatter camp on a personal basis.  Many friendships were formed and the community leader, Mr Eddie Lidema, explained that 80% of illnesses were linked to poor water and sanitation conditions.  One out of every 5 deaths under the age of 5 in Africa is due to a water-related disease.  Tiny worms and bacteria live in the water and some cause devastating disease in humans.  Since they cannot be seen, they cannot be avoided.  Every glass of dirty water is a potential killer. Poor people also waste much time walking miles to collect small amounts of water."

 

The United Nations Development Programme, in its annual Human Development report, argues that 1.1 billion people do not have safe water and 2.6 billion suffer from inadequate sewerage. This is not because of water scarcity but poverty, inequality and government failure.  Sadly we have seen South Africa deteriorate from a first world country to a third world country in a very short period of time.

 

The report estimates that 40bn hours are spent collecting water each year in sub-Saharan Africa - an entire working year for all the people in France..  Even in developed countries, many mothers boil water before giving it to their children - just to be doubly safe. In poor countries, the fuel for the fire can be so expensive that mothers can't afford to boil water and cook food.  We experienced this first hand when we visited the children in March this year.

The project leader, Charmaine Wheatley, has applied for a Pink Umbrella Grant in the sincere hope that we would be able to assist this little community install safe a water filtration pump at each the Shiloh and Apotheke Schoools.