Filtered Water Please
In the village of Potrerillo, Honduras, the doctors used to offer parasite treatment every 6 months to children. But after the second month of regular use of the filters and the implementation of our parasite treatment, there has been no call or need for parasitic treatment by the rotating doctors serving this community. The people really like their filters and they are already accustomed to them. Each household must pay 100 lempira for their filter and they pay that amount in installments to Johanna, the local bookkeeper and nurse. She keeps a very clear record of the delivery of a filter to a household with the delivery date clearly noted. An adult of that household signs her book confirming receipt of the filter. Johanna then records each household’s payment. She is ultimately responsible for turning over the money to PWW after it has been collected. They know that the price that they pay is less than the actual costs, but making the payments make all of them feel invested in the filter project. Some have paid off the purchase price all at once after hearing what it was doing. From the community nurse, Johanna, “We, the community and the health center, have taken ownership of this project as if it were our own, as if we had designed it”. We visited one small neighborhood store in this community (the store is one part of the famil’s home), which has a filter. The women we talked to said that often locals, children or adults, when visiting would ask for filtered water if they were thirsty. This is significant as it shows that they have learned the value of the filter, trust that it supplies clean water, and that they know to ask for “filtered water”. This woman also told us that people choose to carry containers of filtered water with them when they travel away from Potrerillos. Reported by Carolyn Meub.
