What’s the secret to delivering clean water?

Hint: it has to do with a little bit of soap.

What’s the secret to delivering clean water?

A few months ago, the team and I had to pause and reevaluate.

As Covid-19 began to impact people across the globe, we wondered how Acts for Water could serve the communities in Uganda that required our support?

In June, through our ongoing Water And Sanitation Hygiene (WASH) program in Uganda, we placed a call for help to put together a soap making class as a part of our Covid-19 response.

Turning on taps in communities living in water poverty is just the very start. If we’re not accompanying it with education on hand-washing and sanitation, we’re not helping that clean water reach its full potential in helping people live healthy lives.

Many of you answered the call, allowing us to start the classes from scratch, reaching over 200 people so far in the process. And we’ve just started!

Why are we so excited about this? One reason is that almost half of the schools around the world lack access to soap and water. Could you imagine this September sending your kids back to class without water or soap to clean their hands? You’ve changed this for hundreds of families – empowering them to take back the time and opportunity lost from water poverty: forever!

“This soap training will help us have enough soap for our homes to wash and bathe with! Our lives will always be fresh. Thank you for everything!”

– Jonah

A good WASH program requires leaders at all levels to collaborate and support each other to make sure it’s sustainable. But the most significant wins come when the community gets enrolled in seeing the health of their village improve.

Overall, the program has seen waterborne diseases reduced by 17% in its first year, with 100% of households in some communities now having access to a proper latrine and hand washing station. The soap making class has allowed us to improve and raise our WASH standards once more. We can’t wait to see the impact this has in the years to come!

When Covid-19 hit, we responded with relief, then we moved to recovery. Now with soap making workshops, improved hand-washing stations and further investments into WASH, we can ensure sustainable community development for years to come.

Thank you for your continued partnership.

– Jeff Golby

CEO, Acts for Water

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