1/3 of rural Nicaraguans lack access to sufficient water & 2/3 lack access to basic sanitation. Many suffer from preventable diseases & injuries from carrying water. They recognize the need for improved water & sanitation, but it's beyond their means. Please join us in supporting these communities!
Yorlin, 27, was born and raised in Guácimos Salale, in rural Nicaragua. She is a teacher there and remembers well the days of carrying water long distances and having to get up at dawn to walk to the well.
"We used a wheelbarrow or carried a bucket and jugs on our hips," Yorlin shared. People started arriving at the well at 4 in the morning to be the first ones to fill their buckets. "Always, always I remember how hard it was for me because it took so much time to get water that I didn't have time to bathe-and it's physically hard to carry water," she remembers.
Women, in particular, suffer physically after years of carrying heavy buckets, particularly chronic neck pain. Miscarriage is not uncommon for pregnant women carrying 40-60 pounds of water up to 2 km multiple times a day. Snake bites are also a concern.
Before building the water system, the families drank contaminated water from an open well or from untreated rainwater. They bathed with dirty water, too. "In the summer [the dry season], the river dries up, and then we had to find a place to get water. This past summer, the pump on the open well broke, so we had nowhere to get water," she lamented.
However, in partnership with El Porvenir and it's supporters, a new, community-built water system began running on February 13, 2018; 37 families (151 residents) benefit from the electric pump mini-aqueduct system. Community members built a pump house, laid all the water pipes, built a storage tank, and installed the household taps.
Now that they have water in their homes, they can get day-to-day jobs done quickly. "It has been marvelous to have El Porvenir working with the community; unity is strength, and that's what we've felt. Everyone is so happy with this project," Yorlin says.
This project has improved access to water, the thing we most need for life. It has also reduced incidences of diarrhea caused by drinking contaminated water and has improved overall hygiene for all of the families. "Sometimes we had to drink dirty water because we didn't have anything but the open well. We knew that the river water wasn't good for us-it's full of bacteria," said Yorlin. "We thank El Porvenir who took us and our needs into consideration. All of Los Guácimos had dreamed of having water in our homes. As residents here, we will use the water well, caring for it, conserving it, and preserving it," said Yorlin.
The smile on her face shows the true joy of knowing that she and her family will drink clean water and be healthier now.
At El Porvenir, we believe that access to clean water is a basic human right. We partner with Nicaraguan communities to improve their standard of living through implementation of integrated clean water projects, including water systems, latrines, education and restoration of watersheds.
El Porvenir is a thriving US-based nonprofit organization of mainly Nicaraguan staff partnering with rural Nicaraguans to improve their standard of living through integrated clean water projects. Founded in 1990, our projects are community-driven, sustainable and comprehensive, based in the belief that access to clean water is a human right.
We partner with remote communities that lack access to the most basic services and are too small to receive assistance from other organizations.
Our projects include one or more of the following components, based on the needs and requests of the community:
1. Increasing access to clean water through community water systems
2. Improving sanitation with double-pit latrines
3. Educating communities on the best practices for health & hygiene
4. Restoring watersheds via nature-based design and reforestation
To date, EP has assisted rural communities with projects that now supply 210,750 people with clean water and improved sanitation daily. EP has its headquarters in Managua, Nicaragua as well as six regional offices in Cuidad Dario, Terrabona, Camoapa, San Lorenzo, El Sauce, and Waslala. All but one of the in-country staff are native Nicaraguans.
Organization name
El Porvenir
other names
EP
1990
Category
Human Services
Organization Size
Large Organization
Address
80 Garden Center, Suite 135Other
Apartado R.P. 71 Managua, NicaraguaBroomfield County, CO, US
NI