My Story

Hi

My name is Marte and I am working as a Systems Engineer at Cisco in Norway. In October I will travel to Brazil in partnership with Habitat for Humanity to help build water cisterns for the local community in Caruaru.

Families in this region live in extreme poverty. More than 5,5 million people live 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.

Together with other volunteers, I will work to build a 16,000 liters water tank and the mechanism to collect rain water. It would really mean a lot if you would want to spare a donation for this project!