In 2019, MPA funded $24,723 in water filter-and-bucket systems with training: 200 filters were funded for the St. Joseph Matale Women’s Umbrella Group; 200 filters were funded for the Bukoba Women’s Empowerment Association; 55 filters were funded for the village health centers that are a part of the Safe Woman project in Masaka, Uganda; and a handful of others were hand-carried to Africa for use. MPA also facilitated a grant of 80 water filters going from the Forest Park Rotary Club directly to Jamii Bora and CPS Partners, in connection with the Nairobi Rotary Club.
Bujugo is among the villages near Bukoba, Tanzania where MPA’s group projects operate. Members in this village currently have seven water filters that are providing many families clean water every day. The members have worked out a timetable so that one bucket for each of the water filters serves 7 families! The women in each of these families come to one of the places where a filter is set up to make clean water at their set time.
Why do these filters matter?
Unclean water is the greatest common threat to life, health, education, and economic advancement among the people we strive to help. Getting clean water is a daily challenge shared by over 313 million people in sub-Saharan Africa.
International health organizations report that 115 people in Africa die every hour due to water-borne diseases. Many of these are children who die before the age of five. Unclean water carries pathogens and contaminants that cause illnesses like hepatitis, cholera, dysentery and typhoid.
MPA is providing filters which effectively eliminates 99.99999% of all the bacteria in unclean water that causes death and illnesses. A simple back-flushing of the filter enables it to be used over and over again.