Clean Drinking Water, Sanitary Toilet Means Dam is Healthier!

“I often got wet going to the toilet in the wild because my house has no toilet,” said Dam. “Many times, I felt so afraid insects would bite me, but I had no choice,” he added.

Due to the lack of sanitation and hygienic practices, the threat of disease and illness were always near. “Sometimes our children had stomach-pain, but it’s difficult to access the health center, it takes more than one hour to travel by truck,” said Khongma, 45, Dam’s father. 

Dam, 8 is a sponsored child and has 7 siblings. He lives with parents, who are rice farmers, and two sisters who are still living at home.

Prior to the implementation of the activities of Mahaxay Area Development Programme (ADP), they were living without a school, sanitary toilets, or clean drinking water. Their toilet was the forest around the village, and during the rainy season it was especially uncomfortable.

Khongma recalled World Vision programmes arriving in his community in 2011. World Vision projects included providing hygienic toilet materials for each of the 24 families in the village, 24 water filters, and 5 borehole wells. Moreover, World Vision provided rice seed, gardening equipment, and fruit tree seedlings to all families.

“I feel very happy that we have clean water supplies and new latrines, my family members become healthy and stronger than before,” Khongma, added.

“I’m happy that I don’t need to go in the wild any more, now we have own toilet. It’s more comfortablefor me to use and safe from insects. I can use it anytime I want. I also have clean drinking water in the house,” said Dam.

“Our village is a small village. Now, I can say that families are healthy, have fewer fevers and stomach-pain. They have enough clean water for drinking and using in each household. We also have a new school from grade 1 to grade 2 for our children to study in. I would like to thank you to you who have support our village especially for our children’s future and hope you will continue your activity in our village,” said Vantha, 37, the village leader.