Access to Water 

We are pleased to report that the water project that was delayed so long because of COVID is now fully operational. Thanks to the continuing generosity of our supporters, including a significant contribution from the Gay Lea Foundation, the village of Gateko and our ECDC in the community centre have a reliable source of clean, fresh water. In the past, children had to walk an hour each way, twice a day, to collect dirty water from this source. Instead of being in school, they had to collect water that often made them sick. Instead of staying in school where they could build a future, they were forced to live a grinding life day after day with no foreseeable hope for change. Now they are in school where they belong, building their future.

Furthermore, the entire community benefits. Gateko and its neighbouring communities have long suffered from a shortage of water. Now they have a reliable source of clean water to irrigate their crops, to cook, to do laundry, to complete all the other water uses that any community needs to advance. The access to clean water that Shelter Them has provided has given upwards of  3000 people the opportunity to achieve for themselves and their community a greater chance for independence and self-sufficiency.