Young boys take baths in Lake Victoria. By Shay
We met with George Spencer today, a field worker with the Siaya region Kenya Red Cross branch, who escorted us around to various community support groups and introduced us to a few other region field workers. His knowledge on the water issues was pretty accurate because he worked directly with the recent one-year PUR pilot program. He informed us that 75% of opportunistic infections are related to the bad water sources, which was astounding knowing that PUR helps to eliminated viral and bacterial diseases.
We also met with the Deputy Public Health Officer, Judith Wasilwa, from the Siaya District Public Health Office who informed us that the problem with water sources is deeply rooted in the community sanitation infrastructure and PUR helps as temporary relief.
It was nice to hear that PUR really helped save lives and people have a strong desire to continue to use it. Today was a moving experience because we really reached out into the community and met the end-users.
-Amber