A third of Manila's 12 million residents live in slums, and 1 out of 3 Filipinos live below the poverty line, surviving on $1.25 a day. 40% of the population will go through life without ever seeing a doctor and 6 out of 10 Filipinos who succumb to sickness die without ever seeing a doctor (University of the Philippines). With our partners in The Philippines we have opened a free clinic for the Caloocan City community located in our Water For Water community water station. Our clinic is run by Dr. Richard Hartland, he also does home visits around the community when people cannot make it to the Water Station. On average, about 40 people visit the clinic each month and the students of our childhood education program also get free health check ups and medical advice. One of the women from the community spoke to our partners and said "When I learned about the free clinic services at the water station, I was very pleased.  It was indeed a relief to me knowing I can come here for help anytime I need to. Providing nutritious food on our table is already a daily challenge. Same with sending them to school. Receiving a free checkup and advice from the clinic is very beneficial to me and my family." With every bottle of Water For Water sold, 100% of Water For Water's profits go to funding the Clinic. Above are some images of Dr. Richard out doing visits in the Community.

Water For Water with your help have been able to further invest into the Caloocan City community by financially supporting two community development programs.

The first program Water For Water have invested into is a childhood education program.

Not only do Water For Water want to see the day that every single person has access to clean safe water but the day that every child is given the opportunity to read, write and count.

For every ten 5-year-old children in The Philippines, only 6 have access to preschool education. Many parents and communities have to be convinced of the importance of early childhood education. 

Along with our partners Water For Water launched a free early childhood program which is located in community centre attached to the water station. The early childhood program is opened to any child in the Caloocan City community who cannot afford to go to school. There are currently 28 children in the program.

The picture above is of Hans Lucas who is 5 years old and is learning to read and write so that one day he can become a police officer. 

With every bottle of Water For Water sold, 100% of Water For Water's profits go to funding this program, or you can make a donation here!

We just purchased a new tricycle for our water station staff in The Philippines.

We love sharing stories from The Philippines.

This is Lourdes Menoza, who lives in Caloocan City, Philippines. She says her family needs clean water to drink to avoid diarrhoea & other diseases. Lourdes says her children, grandchildren & friends in the community are no longer experiencing frequent nausea, diarrhoea & vomiting brought about by drinking unclean water because of the Water For Water community water station!

It's so amazing the difference something as simple as clean water can do to impact and change lives.

DRINK WATER GIVE WATER

We wanted to start sharing with you some stories of people from The Philippines. Real people and real lives that are being impacted by the Water For Water community water station.

This is Joseph, who is a former street-dweller, and now works at the water station as a delivery boy.
Joseph is 41 and is a single parent and didn't have access to clean drinking water when he was living in the streets.
Now, more than being able to earn a living by being employed by the station, Joseph is able to share to the community that clean drinking water brings about health, wellness and life! Joseph likes working at the water station because he strongly feels like a "health ambassador" as he delivers clean drinking water to the community.
We love Joseph and so glad that he is working at the station!

Thank you for your continued support as we continue to help this community and see peoples lives changed.

DRINK WATER GIVE WATER

 

A few months back, our partners advised us that a fire that broke out in a large mall, which is attached to the property where Water For Water's Caloocan City Water Station is located.

The fire caused damage to the property and inside the Water Station itself, but thankfully nobody was injured.
While we waited for a determination to be made on how safe and usable the building was we had to close the water station. In the meantime our staff kept working, by getting clean water from other water station's in close by areas.

The Water Station is now back up and running and all equipment has been replaced and repaired. Thank you to the team who worked so hard during the few weeks the station was closed, making sure that the Caloocan City community still had access to clean water.

We thought we would share the photos with you...

Last month signaled the start of the monsoon season in The Philippines. And so far they have back-to-back rains.

Despite the flooded streets, the Water For Water community water station continues to reach the community to bring clean drinking water to many households.  

Here are some photos of the streets our team went through to bring water containers full of clean water right to the doorstep of families in the community.