When 50-year-old Chuan Nuan left his home village, he hoped greater opportunities existed in Toul Prasat, a Cambodian town near the Thai border.
He found work doing various jobs on large-scale farms across the border in Thailand. As his children grew older, one by one, they'd join Chuan in the fields. But the money they earned never seemed to meet the needs of the large family. Since purified water was too expensive, the family relied on polluted water sources to meet their daily needs. The children were often sick.
The 21 members of Chuan's immediate and extended family all lived in an old, rickety home. The children's clothes are worn thin and the small amount of food they were able to buy didn't nourish when waterborne bacteria took root in their tiny bodies.
Samaritan's Purse helped ease Chuan's worries when our staff installed a household water filter. The purification process removes harmful microbes, allowing Chuan's sons and daughters grow up healthy and strong.
After providing clean water to the village, Samaritan's Purse also constructed a school that provides children with education, food, and safe water. Chaun's grandchildren are enrolled and can now learn without fear of dehydration or hunger.
And education will give these children a way out of poverty.
As the region's population spends less time carrying buckets of water and more time in school, families will no longer be trapped in a cycle of poverty. When these children grow older, they'll have the skills necessary to start small businesses, and unemployment will drop.
It all started with a cup of clean water.
