Clean Water Saves Lives - Julissa's Story

When I returned home last week from a site visit with our partners and friends in Honduras, one of the first things I enjoyed was a glass of fresh water, something I take for granted every day.

When you live in a remote Honduran village, and the only water you can drink comes from streams contaminated with parasites, you drink it, whether or not you are aware of the risks. There isn't much choice.

For mothers with young infants, unfortunately this choice can be deadly. That’s why the Brigade’s Remote Village Project takes water purification seriously.

When the baby son of Julissa,* a woman in one remote village, developed infant diarrhea and severe dehydration, it was not long before he perished. Julissa was grief stricken; the life of her first and only child had come to an end.

Within a year of that child’s death, the Brigade’s Remote Village Project completed a water purification project in Julissa’s community, providing a large holding tank that enabled clean water to be piped to each of the 250 households there.

Now, Julissa's sorrow has turned to joy with the births of two more healthy children who are doing quite well, thanks in large part to the benefits of having clean water to drink.