What we do

With so many people in the world surviving without access to clean water, where do you start?

At Samaritan’s Purse, we got our water and sanitation work underway in 2005 after identifying some of the places in the world where the need is greatest and where there were local partners – churches or charities - who shared our passion.

Since then, we’ve gone on to provide access to safe water and sanitation for over 140,000 individuals in communities across Ethiopia, Liberia, Niger, Mozambique and Uganda.

Water Supply

A contaminated or unclean supply of water – like a dirty stream or lake – can be the beginning of so many problems for a local community. Here’s how we go about changing that:

Wells – Simple wells can be dug by hand, lined to protect the water and finished off with a hand pump for easy access.

Boreholes – Where the water table is deep underground, we work with the community to either install a new borehole or repair a non-functioning one.

Training – Our 5-day water training programme ensures there is always someone from the community who knows how to look after the local well or borehole.

Naomi’s story

Growing up in Small Bong Mines, a former mining town in Liberia, 7 year-old Naomi has known only one type of water - the dirty kind.

Having watched her battle with bouts of diarrhoea for several years, her mother is delighted that these diseases are now a thing of the past.

This change in reality has been made possible through the gift of a BioSand water filter, distributed by Samaritan’s Purse in August 2006. During that month, numerous families in the village received a new lease of life in the form of a light-blue, concrete cylinder in their home.

For Naomi, this relatively simple household item means the girl with the shy smile from Small Bong Mines now has a much better chance of making it through to adulthood.

Water Treatment

In places where the only kind of water available is the dirty kind, we get together with local people to build BioSand water filters using locally available materials.

These water filters, which use a process known as ‘slow sand filtration’ to filter out up to 95% of all the dirt and bacteria, are then distributed straight into the family home of those in need.

Sanitation

We’re busy building latrines for communities to improve their sanitation situation and prevent diseases from spreading further.

Binta’s story

Binta from Soumatt, Niger, has many things on her mind - her husband, six children and her many responsibilities around the home.

One thing she no longer has to worry about is what to do when nature calls. Until last year, each trip to the toilet involved a treacherous journey across weed and thorn covered land (especially difficult in the night) to a makeshift corner of their land – land which was no longer good for crops or livestock.

“When Samaritan’s Purse told me they wanted to give us the materials to build a latrine, I was very excited,” she recalls. Her husband even rushed home to help out with the building and installing of the latrine when he heard the news.

So, what does a trip to the loo look like now? Well, it’s a few short steps from the family home to a covered pit latrine within a sheltered area where Binta and her family can do what comes naturally, without having to worry about the consequences.

Hygiene Education

Simple things like washing your hands before preparing or eating food can make all the difference to the health of a family.

That’s why Samaritan’s Purse is committed to training volunteer educators in the communities where we work – getting the message out about storing water, disposing of water and hygiene around the home.