As our HCA volunteers work with the children of El Porvenir, we have noticed that many families lack the basic resources to raise their children in a sanitary, healthy environment. Although our primary focus is on working with children in an educational setting, we feel inspired to address some of the underlying factors that contribute to health issues, in hopes of improving the lives of our students and their families.
Throughout the world, there are 2.6 billion people who do not have access to any form of proper sanitation. That means no bathroom, no shower, and no way to effectively dispose of their waste or maintain appropriate hygiene.
For those of us who are fortunate enough to have access to these basic necessities, we shower in clean bathrooms, flush our toilets, and never think twice about it. This is not the case in El Porvenir, where many families have no form of a bathroom or shower and the ones that do, often have crumbling, unsanitary structures that become hot-spots for diseases and sickness.