Women's empowerment stories

Together, we've empowered millions of people with access to safe water and sanitation. We invite you to meet some of them and read their stories.

All stories
Lakshmee
She changed her world

After learning that small, affordable loans were available from their local bank to fund needed water taps or toilets, Lakshmee wanted to tell her friends and neighbors. She knew this could change all of their lives, and their community. Read more about how access to safe water and sanitation empowers moms to do more for themselves and their families.

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Semambo coffee
Semambo Grows

Upon meeting Semambo one discovers she is truly living out the beauty of her dreams. Strong and bold like the coffee she grows, she overcame obstacles that once stood between her and the ability to earn an income to support her family.

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Carrying a vessel
Her crisis

Today, 2.2 billion people lack access to safe water. Each one has great potential, yet the burden of the water crisis hinders their every attempt to break free from the cycle of poverty. When it comes down to who will bear the burden of daily water collection, it’s women and children.

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Grace
Safe water and pregnancy

Grace’s baby was due to arrive any day. Grace lives in a small rural village several hours south of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Thirty-three million people lack access to safe water in her country. Read about how a small, affordable loan empowered Grace and her husband to give their young family safe water and a bright future.

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Rose Uganda 1
Rose's story, then and now

Four years ago we shared Rose’s story. At the time she had just taken a small, affordable loan to give her family a toilet and water at home. Since that time, life has only improved for Rose...

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Sariati
Sariati's water crisis is over

For generations, women in Sariati’s family faced an impossible choice when it came to giving their families water - certain death without water, or possible death from consuming unsafe water. For these women in Indonesia and millions of others around the world, collecting water would take up to six hours each day.

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Rebecca
To generations of safe water

Your donations have empowered millions of women like Rebecca to provide their families with access to safe water - and so much more.

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Joslin
To doubling the graduates

We can remove the obstacles standing between girls and the education they deserve.

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To making a house a home
To making a house a home

Mherindalee’s home is important to her. It’s where her family lives, works, plays, and rests. The water flowing from Mherindalee’s kitchen tap means now she has time - time to care for her home, time to play with her children, and time to make her family’s favorite dishes.

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Lelita - Peru
Investing in their home, health, and future

Lelita and her brother John share their childhood home outside of Chiclayo in Peru. Years ago, before their parents passed, the two committed to their mother and father that they would keep the home in the family. Though it is a simple concrete, dirt-floor dwelling, they promised to give future generations the best lives possible in the house their parents built.

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Liliana - 1
A way for Liliana to make a way

Before her family had a toilet, they used a hole in the ground, and when Liliana needed water, she was forced to either walk a great distance, or ask her neighbors for help. Time consuming and burdensome, Liliana does not miss those days of wasted time and lost income.

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Water tap
Edna and Sarah

In this video, Edna revisits her previous daily journey to collect water. It is for moms like Edna that Water.org created WaterCredit.

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Together, we can empower more families with safe water.

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