World Water Day

Every Child Should Have Access to Clean Water

	Dania is often sick from drinking the contaminated river water, but it is her only water source.
Related Item: Watch Dania's Search for Water

COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (March 19, 2015) – Locating and maintaining a fresh water source is no easy task for the poor living in undeveloped communities throughout the world. But it’s especially difficult for children, young girls in particular, who often are assigned the task of collecting water for their families. In many cases, children must walk miles to gather water that may appear clean, but is filled with harmful and potentially deadly bacteria.

Millions around the world will be celebrating the 22nd annual World Water Day on March 22, which began in 1993 to bring attention to a different water issue every year. The 2015 theme for World Water Day is “Water and Sustainable Development.”  Water is at the core of sustainable development, reducing poverty, stimulating economic growth and environmental sustainability. 

Clean water prevents diseases and provides young girls with an opportunity to go to school and get an education.

Near the Nicaraguan town of Ocotal, located northwest of Managua, lives Dania. She’s a little girl who walks down a steep mountain every day to collect water from hand-dug watering holes near the banks of Rio Coco River. The water Dania collects is contaminated with bacteria and parasites that often make her sick, but it’s her only water source.

“Most of us would never collect water from a local canal or nearby pond for daily usage. We certainly wouldn’t drink it or give it to our children. The thought is incomprehensible, but for many throughout the Caribbean and Latin America, their water source isn’t much better,” said Angel Aloma, Executive Director of Food For The Poor. “Proper sanitation and access to clean drinking water should to be available for everyone. Food For The Poor is committed to providing the poor we serve with this precious resource.”

Since 1998, Food For The Poor has completed more than 1,943 water projects, which include wells, cisterns, tanks, distribution systems, and water treatment units throughout the Caribbean and Latin America.

To view a short video of Dania’s story, please click www.foodforthepoor.org/water.

Food For The Poor, named by The Chronicle of Philanthropy as the largest international relief and development organization in the nation, does much more than feed millions of the hungry poor in 17 countries of the Caribbean and Latin America. This interdenominational Christian ministry provides emergency relief assistance, clean water, medicines, educational materials, homes, support for orphans and the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development assistance, with more than 95 percent of all donations going directly to programs that help the poor. For more information, please visit www.FoodForThePoor.org.