Clean Water for Brithany

Rebeca is a single mom who lives with her four-year-old daughter Brithany (pronounced “Brittany”) in this mountain community in Honduras. Their only source of water is “pila,” a cement structure made to collect water from a stream higher up on the mountain. But that stream is dangerous because of the people who use it for washing clothes and bathing. According to Rebeca, getting to the pila has been difficult too.

“The path is long,” she said. “Getting there is very hard. You have to go up, then go down several times a day because we need water.” 

Even at age 4, Brithany seemed to know the water was dangerous. 

“Children should not drink that dirty water!” she said. 
 
Unfortunately they had to drink it. Then Brithany got sick.  

“She woke up and said, ‘Mommy my stomach hurts. My head hurts.’ We got scared when she vomited through her nose,” recalled the desperate mother. 
 
“I was afraid that my daughter would die,” she added with tears in her eyes. “My daughter is the one who gives me the strength to live! And when I looked at her I was afraid of losing her.” 
 
The next morning Rebeca took her to the hospital.    
 
“After she recovered, the doctor told me to put drops of chlorine in the water or put it in the sun to try to purify it as much as possible,” Rebeca told us. 

When Operation Blessing learned about the community and tested the water, we confirmed that it was dangerous to drink. Then, working with members of that community, we dug trenches and laid pipe that brought water from another source higher in the mountain.  

We restored a 15-thousand gallon storage tank that had fallen out of use and added chlorination to purify the water. When it was finished, Rebeca said this was the first time in her life Brithany did not have to go to collect water or drink dirty water.     

“My daughter is happy because she has water here at home. She bathes whenever she needs and even plays in the water!” said a happy Rebeca. To the friends who support Operation Blessing, I thank you and I hope you will continue to do this work for others too.