World Water Day: FFTP Donors Provide Hope for Treated Drinking Water in Ecuador
COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (March 31, 2023) The gift of treated drinking water soon will be a reality for 168 Kichwa families in Las Queseras, Ecuador, thanks to Food For The Poor (FFTP) donors who responded to a call for action for World Water Day.
Funds will be used to build a new water storage, treatment and distribution system to provide consistent access to treated water for 840 residents who now are exposed to illness from drinking untreated water.
World Water Day has been observed on March 22 every year since 1993 as a way of drawing attention to the importance of treated water and advocating for the long-term management of freshwater resources.
FFTP challenged its donors to share water saving tips and to take action to provide water to impoverished communities that have far too long watched their children suffer due to lack of life’s most basic necessity.
Because of donors’ generosity, the charity is close to funding the entire project. Donations to help Las Queseras families realize their dreams can be made by visiting: www.FoodForThePoor.org/lasqueseras.
FFTP’s in-country partner Legado Foundation will oversee the project.
Community members will participate in the work to install the water system, digging the trenches, carrying the materials to the site and burying the pipes that will bring water to them and their families. The community will also receive training on how to operate the new system.
Las Queseras is a Kichwa community located more than 10,500 feet above sea level on the slopes of the Chimborazo volcano in the Andes Mountains. Most of Las Queseras is supplied with water, but the system has deteriorated and frequently leaks, leading to contamination. It is not suitable for drinking.
Waterborne diseases such as diarrhea, cholera, dysentery, typhoid fever and poliomyelitis are prevalent because residents are consuming unsafe water. The situation has led to chronic childhood malnutrition.
Mariano, 65, said families in Las Queseras have dreamed for years of having treated drinking water. “The current system makes our children sick, including malnourished,” he said.
In 2022, FFTP added Ecuador to the list of countries it is focusing on in the Caribbean and Latin America.
FFTP President/CEO Ed Raine said one of many needs in Ecuador is access to treated water, especially in the indigenous communities that are the most marginalized.
“Time and again, our donors have responded selflessly to the needs of our brothers and sisters and this latest gesture means families are closer to receiving the precious gift of water to this community,” Raine said.
Food For The Poor, one of the largest international relief and development organizations in the nation, does much more than feed millions of hungry children and families living in poverty in 18 countries of the Caribbean and Latin America. This interdenominational Christian ministry provides emergency relief assistance, water, medicine, educational materials, homes, support for vulnerable children, care for the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development assistance. For more information, please visit www.FoodForThePoor.org.
Michael Turnbell
Communications
954-471-0928
[email protected]
