Get the good money flowing with FRANK Water
If you drive up into the mountains of East India, it’ll take a while before you reach the village of Galipadu. But if you do get there, you might meet Kantam Vantala.
Kantam is 65 years old. Until three months ago, it’d take her around four hours per day to collect the 130 litres she needed for her family to drink, cook and wash with.
In the rainy season this was a slippery, dirty, depressing task. In the dry season, the water source would dry to almost nothing and arguments would break out over how much water each family was allowed.
Over the last three months, things have changed. Support from safe water charity, FRANK Water and its local partner, VJNNS, along with hard work from the 300 people who live in the village means that Galipadu is now connected to a gravity-fed water system, which feeds safe, fresh water from a mountain spring to four taps around the village.
Since 2005, FRANK Water has funded safe drinking water and sanitation for more than 300,000 people across 208 communities. The small charity and social enterprise aims to address a big problem, providing safe drinking water to the 663 million people worldwide who still lack access to this basic human right.
Social entrepreneur Katie Alcott founded FRANK Water in 2005 after she contracted dysentery from drinking dirty water. Katie realised that by selling her own ethically sourced brand of bottled spring water, she could use the profits to fund safe drinking water for those communities that needed it most.
This month, anyone who signs up to our newsletter will be entered into a prize draw for one of two FRANK Water refillable water kanteens.
The moment water started flowing from the taps, Kantam’s life changed: “The new tap is in the village, near my house, so my water problems are solved in two ways. I have clean water. I have water near my house. I have a new way of life.”
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO, 2012), every £1 spent on water and sanitation will generate at least four times that amount through increased productivity. Galipadu is no exception.
FRANK Water started work with VJNNS in 2012. By the end of 2015, FRANK Water had completed 10 gravity-fed systems, changing the lives of 3,000 people.
Support FRANK Water and your money goes way beyond taps and toilets.
To win one of these cool kanteens, just sign up to receive the newsletter and you will be entered into our prize draw. The winner will drawn at random on 31 January.
You can enter your details in the sign-up form to the right of this post.
