My Story

I'm so excited to give back in Brazil with my Cisco Early in Career colleagues! We're bringing together 50 passionate ECN members from across the globe to give back and share in this experience. 

Help in raising funds to build a 16,000 liters Water tank and the mechanism to collect rain water for a family in Caruaru, Brazil, where Water is a cammodity only for a small elite!

The story:

Families in this region live in extreme poverty. More than 5,5 millions of people lives without access to water, either for consumption or for basic daily activities such as cooking, or bathing. The lack of water access forces them to walk long distances, several times a week, to be able to supply their homes. In many cases, the walk can take up to two hours both ways. This task is, most of the times, carried out by women and children. Walking about two hours to fetch water implies, therefore, a significant reduction of the time that they can devote to generating income for the family, and children to studies.
The water collected is often unclean and not adequate for human consumption. The families gather water in outdoor locations without any sort of treatment. This water is also in contact with animals, community laundry and waste and can cause contamination which leads to transmission of many diseases.
Families work mainly with agriculture and make less than minimum wage per month. They live in simple, small brick houses with a bit of land around for raising animals and cultivating small plantations. We will build the cistern in this outer area of the house.