Clean water brings hope to villages
Palmerston North’s Barbara Stuckey is chairwoman of HopeNZ and says the main focus is to supply clean water to villages.
Barbara said HopeNZ, which is part of the international organisation Hope, funds wells for these villages. Hope has funded wells in Pursat, Cambodia, and Barbara has also visited Ethiopia to see how the wells were helping the villagers.
“These communities have had no access to clean water and no access to education for their children.”
However, the aquifers were tapped and water began to flow once the wells were built by the villagers.
The villagers were invited to join self help groups and small businesses grew from having water. Once the villagers have water, they were then able to develop an economy and send their children to school.
One village made noodles and sold them to a cafe which had been created from the self-help groups.
Another village was supplied pigs and were taught how to care for the animals by vets who trained the trainers.
They grew three crops a year of dry season rice and were taught how to dehusk the crops which fetched a better price. The husks were then fed to the pigs and the villagers also learned to compost what the pigs could not eat.
Barbara said without clean water families suffer and die from preventable diseases like cholera and dysentery.
“It is virtually impossible for families to lift themselves out of poverty without access to clean water.
“The funding provides the materials to establish simple water schemes, educate about basic sanitation practices and provides a composting toilet.”
Hope project co-ordinator Richard Brown pictured right is with children in Cambodia who had no clean water and no access to education. “The children now attend school. One of the children who had previously met Richard was excited to tell him how he was doing and that he was now attending school.”
The mission and vision of HopeNZ is to “transform the lives of the poor, creating sustainable communities where people want to live, and where they can have access to healthy water, enough good food, education, and environmental responsibility to allow them to sustain and continually improve their quality of life”.
■ HopeNZ will be holding a quiz night fundraiser, September 27, 7.30pm-9.30pm at the Chalet Boat Shed Catering, Centennial Drive. Teams of four $100 ($25 pp), tickets on www.eventfinda.co.nz or call Barbara 06 354-24600
‘The funding provides the materials to establish simple water schemes, educate about basic sanitation practices and provides a composting toilet.’
— BARBARA STUCKEY