For just $250 you can give a family access to water! Your donation is 100% tax-deductible. As a thank-you for your support, you will receive a handwoven water bottle holder made by a Wayuu artisan using recycled cotton.
Why this support is needed:
For an Indigenous Wayuu family living in rural La Guajira, having clean water isn't as simple as turning on a tap.
At One Thread Collective, we began this year with the goal of helping the 12 Wayuu communities we work with access safer drinking water.
Together with our friends at California-based Water Access To All, we took the first step by distributing long-lasting, easy-to-use Sawyer water filters to more than 100 Wayuu women in our weaving collective. Preliminary testing of community water sources found E. coli in every source we tested.
The filters worked. They addressed the immediate problem of contamination and diarrhea incidence was nearly entirely eliminated! But as we listened to the women, we realized that many of them struggled first and foremost with access to water.
The women told us that they were walking long distances to collect contaminated water or spending a significant portion of their income to purchase potable water.
Water access is a struggle for more Wayuu families. A study cited by Colombia's Constitutional Court found that 97.7% of traditional Wayuu communities did not have access to an aqueduct, while 90% of people consumed water without any treatment.
So the women themselves proposed the next solution...
Water Tanks at Home
Large water tanks placed outside each family's home would allow families to purchase water from cistern trucks in larger quantities and store it safely.
Instead of repeatedly walking long distances or buying small amounts of water at a higher cost, families could have a reliable supply right outside their homes.
A $250 donation can provide a family with a water tank.
Because this project was shaped by the women themselves, your donation is helping the women of One Thread Collective invest in a practical, community-driven solution to one of the most basic challenges their families face.
Help us bring water closer to home.