Grandma Kun lives with her eldest son’s family in LaSeng Village in Salavan Province, Laos. There are 8 people in Grandma Kun’s household: her son and his wife and their 3 children as well as 2 unmarried sons. Grandma Kun and her family are Ta Oy, a minority ethnic group that lives mostly in Salavan province in southwestern Laos.
Ta Oy are poor, subsistence farmers, using slash and burn cultivation to grow mountain rice, maize, sweet potatoes, beans, and manioc, and are very dependent on the rains for a good yearly crop. The rains also provide water for their home use. Grandma Kun gets her water from a mountain stream, but the quality is not good. Her family often suffered from stomach problems and diarrhea due to drinking raw, untreated water.
In January 2023, a TerraClear sales representative, Vilayphone, came to LaSeng Village. He asked the village chief if he could have a village meeting to explain about clean water. The village chief agreed, and Vilayphone gave a presentation to the villagers about safe, clean drinking water and how important it is for good health. Vilayphone explained that the water from the mountain stream was not safe for drinking and caused stomach upset. This was new information to the community. They did not know!
Vilayphone went on to explain that each family could boil their water for 20 minutes on an open fires and that would clean the water. Or, they could get a TerraClear filter. With the filter, they can pour the mountain stream water directly into the filter, it flows through, becomes clean, and they can drink it with no problems. Grandma Kun was very excited to get a filter, but she and her family were worried because they are very poor. Vilayphone explained to them that they qualified for a subsidized filter! Grandma Kun was so excited. She and her son were able to pay $5 for the filter, and the rest was subsidized by TerraCare donors.
Now Grandma Kun and her family drink safe, clean drinking water in their home every day. Grandma Kun says the whole family now is in better health. There is much less stomach upset and diarrhea and they all feel much better. For 6 months, the family received 6 trainings from TerraCare about clean water, handwashing, and the dangers of open defecation. Now, in June 2023 Grandma Kun says, “Thank you! Now my family is healthy all of the time and we don’t worry about drinking water!”
