Speaking with community member Clementina Hernandez in rural Honduras, a mother in a household of nine people, it is clear just how much she and her family will benefit from new water and sanitation projects in her community

Clementina currently gets drinking water for her family from an unprotected creek near her home. The family does not treat this unclean water, and there are often little bugs in it. The family also does not have a latrine, another fact of life in this rural community.

Not surprisingly, Clementina speaks excitedly about her family’s role in the planning and construction of her community’s new water and sanitation project. Her family has actively participated in the process, attending planning meetings and trainings.

Clementina has played an important leadership role, serving as accountant for the community construction committee. The manual labor the community has contributed to the project is substantial, miles of pipe installed by hand for the gravity-flow spring-catchment water system.

“We feel good,” says Clementina. “We are going to have water soon.”