Safe Water and Sanitation Restores Dignity for Rosa’s Family
Rosa lives in Aldea Roma, Honduras, with her husband David and their beautiful children—Madelin, Fidel, and Jordan. Their family is close-knit and playful, and the children are smart and full of personality.
10-year-old Madelin wants to be a doctor when she grows up. Here, she holds her youngest brother, 2-year-old Jordan.
Despite her happy family, Rosa often felt embarrassed because she could not live a hygienic lifestyle or provide one for her children. The water that trickled from her tap was never enough to clean dishes, wash clothes, and take baths.
Instead, she had to walk for one hour to a murky river, carrying clothes and dishes to wash. While there, she and her children bathed, exposed and vulnerable, without the privacy of a home bathroom.
It's complicated [when] you take baths. Women [need] more intimacy than men. You take baths with your clothes [on].
Not only that, but the road to the river is muddy due to frequent rains in the area. This is dangerous for Rosa and her children, often causing them to develop foot fungi from traversing the road so often without shoes.
“When you walk in the puddles, sometimes you get fungi on you...from walking so much in the mud,” Rosa said.
The river water she collected was also unsafe to drink, posing a risk to her children's health, and Rosa could not afford to buy bottled water for her family to drink.
Every day, Rosa would walk along a muddy road to the river to wash her clothes, clean her dishes, and bathe.
But when Water Mission started working in her community, Rosa began to hope.
When I heard about the help that was coming, I felt happy because it's a help that a poor person can't get. I feel happy and grateful.
In September 2024, Water Mission completed a project in Aldea Roma that brings safe water directly to 560 homes through household connections. As the first successful surface treatment plant in Honduras, the project indicates the value Water Mission places on creating innovative solutions.
Along with providing safe water, we installed showers and latrines in the homes of the most vulnerable families in Aldea Roma. For Rosa, bathing in the river is now a thing of the past.
I’m happy because I don't have to carry a bucket on my back [and] walk from here to [the river]. I thank God, and I'm happy because now I have water in my house.... I don't have to risk [my children] getting sick anymore.
Thanks to the generosity of people like you, safe water is now delivered straight to Rosa's home.
Because of your support, Rosa’s family and others in Aldea Roma have reliable access to safe water and the ability to bathe and use the bathroom from the comfort of their homes. Your generosity is helping provide opportunities for restored dignity in Honduras and around the world.
Related Impact Stories
