Proposal:
The Coronavirus pandemic has put a stand-still on the normal lifestyles, with social distancing being encouraged to help curve the spread of the virus. Imagine families in rural areas where soap and water are not available immediately. There is an urgent need right now for every family in rural sectors to have clean water and soap.
The Problem:
RPB-USA first project starts at Rukumberi health center, located in Rukumberi sector, Ngoma district, Eastern Province, Rwanda. The sector has the total area of 86.0 km² and home for 28,560 people (13,587 males and 14,973 females) according to 2012 population census, its population density is 332.2/km². The sector has only one Health center and 2 health posts. The Health center receives an average of 70 patients per day and has 28 staff. Patients come to Health center commonly for the treatment of malaria, diarrhea, flu etc. The health center uses tap water but due to shortage of this water sometimes they use water from the lake which needs to be boiled or filtered so it can be used as safe for the health of beneficiaries of this health center. Even tap water when it is available, its quality is not ensured because there is no regular water quality control.
The solution:
In order to provide safe clean water to patients and staff of this health center, there is a need to install one SAM[1]2 Community Filter which is a large-capacity sand-and-membrane filter, providing clean water to 400 people a day by filtering water from a tank of 300 liters capacity.
[1] SAM- Sand And Microfiber
This filter will allow patients of health center to take their medicine with clean water and bring a full container home with them. A SAM2 requires no electricity nor fuel, making it the ideal solution for rural areas. World Relief will train some staff of the health center on how to use and maintain the filter in order to ensure its sustainability as this filter can last 10 years.