two families, two tales:
Safe water transforms the lives of people who have access to it. For those who don’t, the struggle to live a healthy life is constant.
Thieu Thi Nghe, 85, sits just outside her house on her porch, taking shade from the sweltering heat. Beside her is a large bunch of bananas, which she sells for a living.
Her three sons have passed away, all when they were young, and her only daughter occasionally visits her to help with the chores.
For her, her main source of water comes from the rain, but during drier seasons, she relies on the drilled well beside her house, for drinking. At her age, she still moves about actively, as she demonstrates how she pumps water from the drilled well by alternating between lifting and pushing down a pump.
Occasionally, if she notices the water from the pump has a strange colour, she asks one of her neighbours to spare her water, as she has heard of people falling ill from drinking unclean water.
However, it is unknown to her that to her that arsenic contaminated water cannot easily be identified by colour or clarity of the water. Laboratory or quick field tests have to be done to conclude if the water is safe for drinking.
In contrast, Thieu Quang Hung, 44, does not have the same worry, despite being aware of the threats of arsenic poisoning.
He lives with his elderly father, older sister, wife, and two children. Having first heard of the threat of arsenic poisoning from families that he worked for in the city, he now lives with his mind at ease that the water from his well is clean, thanks to the arsenic filter he has received from Lien Aid.
“I think that if the water has been treated with this filter, my family’s health has improved,” he says. He counts his family fortunate, for he has heard cases of people falling sick due to arsenic poisoning within the village. These villagers do not visit a hospital because it can get very expensive, and prefer to treat themselves.
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