Clean Water for Gashora, Rwanda

Gashora is a beautiful village situated next to Lake Rumira in Rwanda. As the sun sets, moonlight glistens over the lake, creating the most serene landscape I have ever experienced. When the sun rises, however, it's go time. During my 6am morning run, I would see mothers and children, as young as 5 years old, walking or biking to the lake to fetch their daily water, yellow "jerry-cans" in hand. Everyone has to travel nearly a mile for maybe five gallons of water. And dirty water, at that. Contaminated with livestock feces, manganese, and schistosomiasis. 

How can you help? Why is this GoFundMe page set up? 

We have the solution, but we are short on funds. The Gashora Health Clinic has a high class water filtration unit on site. It has the potential to give the entire village access to clean water. However, it is currently only connected to rain water. That means that Gashora has safe drinking water only two months out of the year. 

Our Plan: Dig a trench from Lake Rumira to the Gashora Health Clinic. Lay pipes in the trench. Install solar powered pumps near the lake to pump the water to the Clinic. It's really this simple.

But we need help. We need the funds to pay for the pipes. Everything else is done. The trench has been dug. The solar panels have arived and been cleaned. The village is ready. They are counting on us to finish the project that has been started. They are counting on us to give them clean drinking water. 

Watch this video of Penn Athletic's Coach Kerry Carr and Erica Higa's experiences in Rwanda to learn more.