Water Projects in Other Nations

Ukraine

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has forced millions of children and adults from their badly damaged or destroyed homes. They have fled to underground subway stations, to rural areas, to anywhere that might protect them from the missiles and gunfire.

 

The fighting has left them without life’s necessities, including the most basic: water.

 

A bombed-out apartment building in Ukraine, and desperate families huddled on a subway stairs while waiting for aid, including emergency water.

 

Through your generosity, Lifewater Canada bought about 18,000 bottles of water in Poland and arranged for them to be transported into Ukraine.

Some went to Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, where people are struggling to survive after Russian missiles obliterated entire neighborhoods.

 

More bottles of water went to Chernhiv where, after the Russians blew up an oil depot and contaminated all the groundwater, nothing was safe to drink.

 

Your donations also provided desperate Ukrainians with medical and sanitation supplies, plus more than 6,000 personal water filters from a Swiss firm called Lifestraw that offered them to us at very good discount, knowing how badly they were needed.

 

The filters turn even the dirtiest pond or puddle water into safe drinkable water in seconds. Some were distributed in Chernhiv while others went to the almost completely destroyed city of Mariupol and also in Krasnogorovka, in Ukraine’s Donetsk region.

 

Lifestraw filters turning contaminated water into drinkable water

 

To transport all these emergency supplies into Ukraine and deliver them to the people who urgently need them, we worked closely with an organization called Missions Partners International.

 

“There is no better time to be serving the Ukrainian people that at this time when they are experiencing a humanitarian crisis that is unimaginable in its scope and emotional pain,” Faith Woods, Mission Partners' executive director, told us in an email.

 

“I am enormously grateful for each and every one of the donors of Lifewater Canada who have made the choice to stand with the country of Ukraine at this very difficult moment in their history. By giving such a basic yet critical gift as water, you have helped thousands of people to survive this terrible war. You have given the gift of life.”

 

We hope you will join us in praying that the war in Ukraine will end soon.

 

 

COVID-19 Relief

Lifewater Canada’s response to COVID-19 began in March 2020 and focused on:

 

Education workshops: We updated education materials we use during health and hygiene workshops to include important information about COVID-19. Large workshops with meals were replaced with socially distant small-group training of locally influential men and women who learned effective hand-washing, how to disinfect pump handles and buckets, and how to maintain two-metre distances when possible. In Liberia, where memory of the deadly Ebola epidemic is still strong, people were especially receptive.

 

Information Sharing: Lifewater erected roadside billboards and aired radio ads warning that the pandemic was very real and highlighting key actions each person should take to prevent COVID spread. 

 

Super-chlorinated water and soap: Teams helped supply soap to rural villages in need. In Kenya, 13 storage tanks were installed next to high-use wells. Super-chlorinated water was stored in these tanks so people coming to draw drinking water from the wells can also take home some pre-mixed disinfectant water to clean their kitchens and disinfect toilet facilities. Many smaller tanks were positioned in schools. 

 

Sewing masks: Patterns for surgical masks provided by Canadian nurses were given to Lifewater teams overseas. Local tailors and seamstresses began sewing masks for the teams to distribute, and patterns to make more masks were shared throughout program areas. 

 

Providing Water: Safe water for hand-washing and other sanitation needs is essential during a pandemic, so Lifewater continued to drill new wells and repair old ones. We were declared an essential service in each country where we operate. We ensured our teams complied with directions from local governments. The teams maintained community involvement without direct contact. Community members still assisted on site, but during the pandemic, local people did not provide meals or housing for the team members, or work alongside them as during normal times.

 

Drilling New Wells: Teams in all our project countries kept drilling new wells to reduce the number of people gathering at any one water supply. This reduced wait times and maximized the amount of water available for handwashing and household sanitation.

 

Repairing Pumps: The biggest impact could be achieved for relatively low cost; repairing a broken hand pump costs an average $170. Putting a pump back in service reduced crowding and wait times at neighboring wells.