As a proud partner of Water.org, EcoPro donates a portion of every EcoPro Pillow Cover sold to this great organization. And we couldn’t be happier to do it! For over 25 years, Water.org has championed the cause of helping to bring clean water and sanitation to impoverished people around the globe.
Water.org lifts who communicates out of poverty by providing the microfunding and support needed to create community-centric sustainable sources of clean water. To celebrate their inspiring work, we’ve pulled a couple of our favorite Water.org success stories.
Maritez
Maritez lives in a rural region of the Philippines known for its heavy agricultural industry. The village secretary, Maritez and her family of seven live in a community of 500. As part of her role as secretary, Maritez is tasked with recording major community moments like births and deaths. She also manages the livelihood training programs. About 1/3 of her village has access to clean, safe water taps and toilets at home.
Working with Maritez, Water.org was able to help finance an affordable loan to construct safe water connections and toilets for the community. By providing greater access to clean water, Maritez empowers her fellow villagers to do more in life like sew, garden, attend school, and partake in the offered livelihood training programs.
Anita
For many people in the world, collecting clean water means walking for miles (and sometimes) hours a day. A new mother, Anita is all too familiar with the daily struggle of collecting water for her and her new family. Through a small affordable loan from @Water.org, Anita was able to install a water tap in her home in South India.
The new tap not only saves Anita from having to spend all of her time and energy collecting water every day, it also helps to keep her daughter Chaitanya healthy and free from waterborne illnesses.
Juleha
Our last story takes us to Jepara in central Java, Indonesia. A small coastal town, many of its residents, including Juleha, rely on fishing as their main income source. Juleha works in a nearby fabric factor to help supplement her family’s income.
Juleha has a three-year-old son in a house that she built with her husband. Lacking a water connection meant that Juleha needed to purchase her water for cooking and bathing from private vendors. This means Juleha was s[emdomg almost half of her weekly salary on water.
Through a small microloan funded by Water.org, Juleha was able to connect to their local water utility’s pipeline. Juleha is now repaying the loan in six affordable monthly installments using the money that she’s saved from no longer having to purchase water from a private vendor.
Inspired by these stories? Water.org has dozens more on their site. You can also make a donation to support their ongoing mission.