Eileen and John Heasley visited Nepal in the spring of 2002 and fell in love with the country’s gentle people and breath-taking scenery. But they also saw people bathe in the same water they carried home to drink and women walk great distances every day with vessels of the unclean water.
They came away acutely aware of the unsafe water conditions. They had taken careful precautions. But people in the remote villages, and even the cities, did not have access to safe drinking water. They learned that in Nepal alone, about one in twelve children under the age of five dies every year from a water-related disease. They decided to make a difference somehow.
They found that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was researching a simple household biosand water filter that removed enough biological contaminants to make water safe for drinking. Both John and Eileen decided to attend the CAWST training seminar in Toronto conducted by Dr. David Manz, the designer of the Biosand filter, to become trained in the BioSand filter, its proper use, and maintenance. They came away prepared to train others in these technologies.
They began by supplying the biosand water filters to an orphanage in Kathmandu, Nepal. They then prepared 25 schools and supplied them with filters. This was the beginning . . . A Vision for Clean Water, non-profit, was formed. Much has happened since then.
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|