Every day, Tin Mar Hwe, the headmistress of a school in Than Bo, Myanmar, worries about having enough clean water for her students. She depends on parent volunteers to make eight trips a day to nearby ponds to collect enough water to last the children through the day. Access to clean water is critical for survival, education, and upward mobility. But in some areas, it comes at a high cost.

ADRA’s water specialists provide safe and clean drinking water for schools in places like Than Bo, Myanmar.

Each trip to the pond takes 30 minutes, so parent volunteers miss a half day’s work in the fields whenever they help at the school. Tin Mar Hwe worries most during the harvest season because parents cannot afford to take time off and the children must wait until lunch to get water. Even when there is enough water, it is not filtered well enough to keep the students from getting sick and missing school.

ADRA’s water specialists built a rainwater collection system with storage tanks and taps at Tin Mar Hwe’s school. Now her students can have water whenever they like, and their parents are free to do the work they need to make a living. With access to clean water, Tin Mar Hwe is confident that her students will be able to have a consistent education, a healthier life, and a more promising future.

The rainwater collection system is just one of ADRA’s water sanitation projects in Myanmar. Thanks to donations from around the world, ADRA has had the resources to install three borehole wells as well as a solar-powered pump and water tank in other Myanmar villages.