W.A.S.H. Initiative

 
 
 

The health of our partner communities has been central to our mission from the beginning, and with the rapid spread of COVID-19 and its variants, we are focusing even more resources on initiatives that improve the physical and mental health and wellbeing of our communities where children lack adequate clean drinking water and teenagers endure the humiliation of open-air defecation.

 

By our most recent community assesment:

  • 80% of families lack access to potable water and decent sanitation 

  • 90% live in substandard housing, including 35 families currently homeless, having lost their homes to fire

  • 90% lack the ability to send their children to school because Illness and disease have created intractable barriers to education and social mobility

In 2020, EAB added a clean drinking water initiative to its efforts to improve the health of its five partner communities. Thanks to the generosity of Rotary Club of Vancouver , the AllPeopleBeHappy Foundation, and individual supporters, 80% of households in our five communities will have a water filter.

About the Water Filters

 

The filters are made in the Dominican Republic and are provided to families at a minimal cost to ensure they have investment in the program. Each family is trained on how to properly use and clean the filters as well as general sanitation practices. Prior to accessing the filters, families paid a significant amount of money to travel to water sources and to purchase potable water. The plastic baggies that held the water ended up contributing to the already complex waste management challenges. Many families could not afford to purchase clean water and instead used contaminated water daily for drinking, cooking and cleaning. Read Maria’s story about how a water filter has improved her family’s quality of life.

Our goal is for 100% of the households in all five partner communities to have a water filter by 2023. 

Learn more about how you can donate a $50 water filter.  In addition to the water filters, funding has enabled us to install hand-washing stations in all the community schools, as well as water filters in those buildings, so every school student now has access to clean water at school.

Latrines prevent the spread of deadly diseases

Over the past 20 years, EAB has built more than 100 toilets, latrines and composting latrines in the communities of Batey Libertad, Franco Bido, and Janey. Recent funding has enabled us to build latrines in Batey Libertad. Batey Dos has significant needs, as only 40% of its residents has access to a latrine. Defecating outdoors exacerbates the contamination of the sole community water source. The needs are great in Batey Dos, and we continue to seek funding to improve the dignity, health and well-being of our families in all five communities. 

Thanks to the generosity of Rotary Club of Vancouver and the AllPeopleBeHappy Foundation, an additional 10 latrines will be built by spring of 2022.

Read more about Andrea, whose family was displaced by a fire. A home, latrine and clean water would transform her life and enable her to fulfill her dream of completing high school.