A special PWW moment in El Recreo
Installing 70 filters in our first community, we were exhausted by the end of the 4th day. We had only the most far flung, uphill homes remaining and we were ready to call it quits when we met Digna.
Rob, Jeff and I hiked up to one of these mountain-top houses to scope out the trail. Arriving at the house we were all ready to put it off until the next day, when we could make a proper sling to carry the filters. As I was speaking to Maria, a 39-year old mother of 11 children, I noticed the huge eyes of her youngest daughter. I commented about how frail she looked and the mom immediately began to tell me that Digna has had diarrhea for the past 8 days. She was so weak, she couldn’t even stand on her own and her skin had no elasticity because of dehydration.
I began telling the mother she should use SODIS (Solar Disinfection) until she can get a filter. SODIS is when you keep a plastic bottle of water kept in the sun for 24 hours to kill all the bacteria. Ironically enough, with all the plastic trash in this country this family was too poor to even buy a bottle of coke so there were no bottles to be found. I rushed over to Rob and Jeff, my ears filled with the sounds of Digna howling, and told them, “We have to install this filter today!”. Before I turned around to talk more with Maria the boys were already off looking for sticks to make a stretcher. By the time I fetched Enelida and our buckets, the boys had already rounded up an army of help and had the filter harnessed to a stretcher.
The trail was not really a trail at all but a stream channel with a lot of big rocks. The best thing about this whole situation though was to see all the people who pitched in to help bring this filter to the family in need, which could not afford to wait another week. We arrived at the top of the hill at their house to see Maria beaming at us and her new filter. Enelida and I started installing the filter right away with our little army of helpers watching everything. I almost felt like we were in an operating room “water, we need more water”, “bucket, dump this bucket”. We finished up and said we would return in three weeks with the water jugs and to check up on how Digna was doing.
20 Days Later
Upon returning to El Recreo, I was very pleased to see Digna wobbling on her own when I entered their house. This community is very fortunate, they have transportation that passes by about twice a day. It is a small truck that makes the hour trip to the main road and from there to the health clinic. Luckily, Digna’s mother was able to make the trip and get the medication she needed to save Digna’s life. She had parasites, amoebas, and a urinary tract infection, most likely all caused by poor sanitation and dirty water.
The filters are not a cure but a preventative solution. Now that Digna’s system has been cleared of parasites and infection, the filter along with the health education her mother received will reduce and potentially eliminate instances of gastro-intestinal illnesses. That means children like Digna will have the strength and can get the needed nutrients to develop properly instead of losing them to parasites. In the long run, this will lead to an increased attendance at school because they are not home sick, they can pay attention and not be suffering discomfort, and hopefully from their improved education they will have better opportunities in life. Reported by Rasa Siminkas Kent
