An $80 donation will provide one person in Northern Ghana with clean water every day, for (at least) the next ten years.
As a result, millions of people – especially children – suffer from waterborne diseases like diarrhea, which is a primary cause of death among Ghanaian children under five years old.
Clean water is scarce for 800,000 people in Ghana’s Northern Region.
Since groundwater is often inaccessible in this region, the only sources of water for most rural villages are stagnant ponds, contaminated by feces, called “dugouts,” where rainwater runoff accumulates.
Our local partner in Ghana is Saha Global, an organization founded by Kate Cincotta, an MIT grad. She developed an appropriate and effective water treatment system that is easy-to-use, affordable and makes water safe to drink.
When water is collected from a dugout, it is treated with aluminum sulfate, which causes sediments to settle out of the water. The water is then disinfected with chlorine.
With your help, locally available materials are sourced to build a water treatment center, including a 1,000-liter Polytank, a metal Polytank stand, 3 blue 200-liter drums, chlorine, and aluminum sulfate.
Saha Global trains women to run their own clean water center.
With each center, three women are hired.
Working together, they collect and treat the water, then sell it to their neighbors at an affordable price (3 cents per 20 liters).
Approximately 0.7 cents is used to cover the cost of treating the water. All of the revenue stays in the community and is managed by the entrepreneurs.
Each woman is anticipated to earn $1,000 USD over the next decade ($100 per year).
This extra income makes all the difference. They send children to school, buy extra food and invest in their livelihoods.
Providing support for the long-term.
Research has found nearly 1/3 of all water projects installed in the last 20 years in Sub-Saharan Africa are now broken; most break within the first 1-2 years.
Keeping water flowing is what matters most!
Therefore, Saha Global employs Customer Care teams.
They visit every community, monitoring the water businesses, providing entrepreneurs with support, and routinely testing the water to ensure it's e-coli free (i.e. safe to drink).
This means if you give this year, you should expect your donations to last for at least a decade.
You can give or fundraise to help hire one woman, or bring water to an entire community.
We will match you to a specific community and provide you with annual updates for the next ten years. (Yes, ten years!).
TAP's Ten Year Promise:
Sustainability and transformation are what matter most to us. It's not enough to take a picture after a water source is installed and then walk away. It's important that the community is transformed for the long-term.
On average, it costs $18,000 to bring water to one community; $6,000 to hire one woman (3 women working per village).
If you give or fundraise $6,000 or more, we will match you to a specific community and email you an impact report every year, for ten years.
Know that your generosity was not a drop in the bucket, but created lasting change for years to come.
Please reach out if you would like to pick a specific community. The list of 100 communities is here.
For questions, please call: 650) 303 1899 or reach out to Michael.Pelehach@TheAdventureProject.org
Join us in ensuring everyone has access to safe, clean water.