Stories

Swapna’s community had a problem—they couldn’t get enough water

Tey’s family didn’t have access to safe water, latrines, or basic health education. “We were unaware of the importance of vaccines and proper nutrition for our only child,” Tey explains. “Sometimes, we even avoided the health centre staff when they came to administer vaccines in the village, fearing they might make our child sick."

Here in Canada, we know what it’s like to experience hot weather and droughts. It impacts crops, fuels wildfires, and results in water restrictions every summer. But have you ever completely run out of water?

Fresh springs are a great source of clean water, but they must be protected from contamination. FH capped a spring in rural Ethiopia to help families get clean water and be free from waterborne diseases.

I think we can all agree that water is essential to life on Earth.

Juana will never forget the little water bottle that she carried to school every day. Water access close to home (or in your house!) is critical to development. Girls in Guatemala need access to water to help them stay in school.

Ashrayan, a government-built project housing over 48 families, had no local water supply. Residents spent hours traversing a steep hill to collect unsafe water that made them sick. Ashrayan had no preschools and only one primary school a kilometre away. “Being far away from the [primary] school, we were not very interested in education. If we have that interest to involve our children with school, it’s quite tough to go to school regularly for our children by walking that distance from our house,” one mother shared.

Irrigation is key to establishing food security for communities at risk of drought.

Clean water and sanitation is the UN's Sustainable Development Goal 6, so it must be important, but what is sanitation? It's more than just the city sewage plant - it's in your home, too!

Food for the Hungry (FH) helps communities in all our partnered countries improve their access to clean, safe water supplies. But the method used depends on the location - the topography, underground aquifers, locally available materials and skills, and weather. Here’s a few examples of what we’re doing—with your help!—to ensure everyone can tap into the world’s most precious resource.

A natural resource that covers 71% of the Earth’s surface and makes up to 60% of our bodies, water contributes to life around the world, including providing food, income, and wellbeing. Yet, the global water crisis is commonly misunderstood! This World Water Day, Food for the Hungry experts in water, sanitation, and health (WASH) have joined together to help you dispel some common myths about clean water, and give you a better understanding of the work we do with water around the world.

My family and I recently arrived in the Cape Town area of South Africa at the tale end of a severe three year drought. We quickly adopted new routines when it came to showering, washing dishes, brushing teeth, and flushing toilets (“If it’s yellow let it mellow; if it’s brown flush it down”). At first, our three-year-old daughter struggled perhaps more than my husband and me.

No one expected that Peg Peters—the five-year-old Peg Peters, kicking a soccer ball around with Ethiopian neighborhood kids and eating injera with his hands—would one day be raising millions of dollars of support for Ethiopia alongside thousands of volunteers through the Run for Water campaign.

Tube-wells are fast, safe ways to get clean water access to families in high density areas.

Rural communities in Burundi are well overdue for some serious education upgrades. Normally, when we think of education resources, we imagine fully equipped classrooms, smiling teachers, and freshly sharpened #2 pencils. Creating a dynamic educational environment requires all those things, and so much more