Every day in rural communities throughout sub-Saharan Africa, millions of people suffer from a lack of access to clean water. For children it's a burden that traps them along with their families in the vicious cycle of poverty.
Globally, 1 in 9 people still have no access to clean water and it’s a daily and crippling challenge that hinders their capabilities to grow food, build housing, stay healthy and able to work. Moreover, children can’t stay in school because they have to take part of the family burden to constantly look and carry fresh water.
Clean water has the potential to make a tremendous difference in children’s lives. Kids need clean water to be healthy, to grow and thrive, to attend school regularly, and to fulfill their potential.
We believe in honoring indigenous African cultures and their way of life. We work cooperatively with local leadership to empower them towards taking part and sustaining the development of their community.
663 million people globally lack access to safe water supply sources with 350 million people in Africa alone affected every day. The health implications are staggering. 2 million people die every year due to water-borne diarrheal diseases, most of them children under the age of 5.
The World Bank estimates that water-related illnesses kill more African children under the age of five than HIV/AIDS, malaria, and measles combined.
Building a solid foundation of learning and teaching remains the greatest challenge Africa is facing to fully unlock it’s extraordinary potential.
Water scarcity in Africa prevents many young children, especially girls, from attending school and receiving an education as they are expected to aid their mothers in water retrieval and household chores. A lack of clean water also means the absence of sanitary facilities and latrines in schools, resulting in absenteeism 10-20% among girls who have reached puberty.
Adequate investment in drinking water and sanitation facilities would result in 272 million more school attendance days per year. 443 million school days are lost each year simply due to children suffering from water and sanitation related illness.
WOMEN & YOUNG GIRLS
Women and girls are disproportionally burdened by scarcity of clean drinking water. In most African societies, women are seen as the collectors, managers, and guardians of water for household chores like cooking, washing, and child rearing.
Because of these traditional gender labor roles, women spend around 60% of each day collecting water, which translates to approximately 110 million collective work hours every day and a decrease in the amount of time available for education, income generating activities, house-work and childcare.
The detriment water scarcity has on educational attainment for women in turn affects the social and economic capital of women in terms of leadership, earnings, and working opportunities. The lost number of potential school days and education hinders the next generation of African women from breaking out of the cycle of unequal opportunity for gainful employment, which serves to perpetuate the prevalence of unequal opportunity for African women and adverse effects associated with lacking income from gainful employment. With safe water nearby, women are free to pursue new economic opportunities and improve their families' lives.
After the completion of our undertaking a ‘Water Committee’ for the community will be set and we will ensure that women also participate and have a spoken world in relation to the water matters of the area.
CREATION OF A VIABLE AND CLEAN WATER SOURCE
‘Rhea Foundation’ has a specialized and trained ‘task-force’ that is conducting the appropriate geological studies in the area of the ‘Lomiyon Community’ in Tanznia, Africa so we can give them the gift of clean fresh groundwater through powerful water drilling rigs designed specifically for bore drilling. The objective is to find the cleanest water source beneath the earths bedrock and through the installation of specialized casing and pumps to be able to accommodate for the daily water needs of the whole community.
Our aim is to promote rural African community development by providing a network of sustainable water sources that will diminish the health risks associated with the contaminated water.
We don’t measure our success on the number of wells we built, but on making sure they’re still running just as well 5 years down the line. We’re not working to get quick wins, but building knowledge that will impact communities for generations to come.
EMPOWERING THE THIRSTY
Access to clean water and sanitation not only improves quality of life, but also brings tangible health and economic benefits and contributes to poverty reduction in rural and urban areas. The UN estimates that Sub-Saharan Africa alone loses 40 billion potential work hours per year collecting water. The rate of return on spending on water and sanitation can exceed other public investments such as infrastructure, transport, health or education.
The water initiative of ‘Rhea Foundation’ is about advancing human progress, helping families escape devastating cycles of poverty and disease that drain vital health and economic resources from communities and prevents young children from fulfilling their potential.