A Clean Drinking Water Lesson

The availability of clean water can be taken for granted in developed countries such as the U.S. or U.K. For people in Bangladesh, however, clean water can be scarce.

In many remote places in Bangladesh, people may never drink clean water. They suffer from waterborne diseases, which are adopted into their lives as normal.

Flying over Bangladesh, you see hundreds of rivers and canals covering the country. But most of these water sources are badly polluted and not safe for drinking or other uses.

So not only is it difficult to provide food for everybody in this impoverished country, it is even more difficult to ensure safe drinking water for the people of Bangladesh.

Haydarnashi Child Sponsorship Program has had a problem finding clean water from the very beginning. The cook had to carry drinking water for 142 children every day. He also had to carry the water for daily cooking.

Carrying the huge drums and buckets filled with water was a serious burden, and so children didn’t get enough clean water.

The church had a tube-well, but it couldn’t pull water from deep levels. As a result, the iron content of the water was high, and it tasted bitter and was  unsafe for the children.

Children also hard a hard tim pumping the tube well. To get just a glass of water was a lot of hard work for a small child.

Compassion did not have the magic lamp of Aladdin to build a water supply for the children overnight. However, some wonderful donors/sponsors ensured a clean water supply for the children of Haydarnashi Child Sponsorship Program by providing for the installation of a new water pump. 

Having running, fresh, clean water was a new experience for the children. At their homes they used rainwater for drinking and pond water for cleaning.

Now the children not only are benefiting from a clean water supply at the student center, but they also have learned about the importance of clean water at home.

They used to collect rainwater for drinking at home by placing  a bowl under the shade of their house. The rainwater from the roof dripped into the bowl.

Now the children know that rainwater from their rooftops is not safe for drinking. The roofs are made of straw, so when the water drips down it, it takes with it all the dirt from the roof.

The children now line up to wash their hands before and after every meal. They just turn on the small tap to have water for cleaning and drinking.

The student center director, Mr. Prodip, says,

“I believe that the most important change the clean water supply brings is that the rate of sick children has decreased. We are now having very few cases of stomach pain and diarrhea than the previous days.”