WaterStep Director of Training and Trips Claudia Daniels shares the needs of a community in Costa Rica. You can join us on our next trip to the community where we are saving lives with safe water. Check out her story below and learn more about Claudia on our Staff page.
There is this small town in Costa Rica where a sweet lady named Cecilia lives. Her heart for the children in the neighboring slum is overflowing with love, and kids follow her in the streets like the pied piper. They come to her for safety, love and food.
Cecilia is not a woman of great means. In fact, at night she goes to her neighbor’s house asking for leftover rice and beans to feed the children the next day. She makes a meal for them in her house and carries the food to a small feeding center where the children line up for a hot lunch.
Cecilia knows the need for safe water in the community and knows that these kids are not only lacking in food but their health is suffering as well from contaminated water.
Our partner in Costa Rica, Ana, asked us if we could come and bring safe water to these children. A team of 12 from Cornell University traveled to Costa Rica, taught Health Education to the children and installed a purification unit in Cecilia’s son’s bodega (store). Here Cecilia set up a small business selling safe water for a couple of colonies, which is much cheaper than the bottled water people were buying. She supplied safe water for the children and cooked their meals with safe water and with the money she made, she was able to buy fresh food for the children.
Now, two years later, the feeding center needs to expand. This summer we will bring another team to help provide safe water to the new center where Cecilia will cook on site. Join us as we continue our work and build our relationship with this unbelievable lady and her the kids she loves. Learn how you can travel with WaterStep on an upcoming trip. Maybe even join the trip that brings safe water to Cecilia’s new feeding center.
