Abdul Rahman, from the Afghan village of Bahu Kariz, lives in a community where children, instead of going to school every morning, were walking long distances to fetch water for their families.
When Abdul Rahman first moved to the area in 2016, the area was in extremely bad shape. The inadequate supply of clean drinking water affected access to nutrition, cleanliness, sanitation and other health-related issues. This lead to an increased risk of disease, infection and water-related illnesses and in fact, many of the families living in Bahu Kariz were spending any resources they had on medical treatments for their children because of it. Without clean water, communities are trapped in a vicious cycle that ensures their economic, social, and educational disparities are preserved and perpetuated for generations to come.
With the generosity of our donors, Penny Appeal USA was able to partner with a local organization in Afghanistan to build a Solar Panel Water Well that transformed the lives of the families living in Bahu Kariz. Not only did it drastically decrease the level of waterborne diseases and illnesses, but it also allowed for children to spend more time in school instead of taking hours a day to fetch water.
Sustainable access to water has the potential to bring lasting positive change to the community where the people can live a life protected from dangerous illnesses with a reliable water source for drinking and sanitation, and even support farming and other businesses which allow people to generate reliable income so that the community can start to break the cycles of poverty. With your generosity, many other communities like Bahu Kariz can live healthier lives through better hygiene, improved education, and an opportunity to pursue a better quality of life.
