An average of 783 million people lack access to an improved source of drinking water, that is 1 in 10 of us. Great progress is being made globally, but whole people groups are being overlooked—it's the poorest people with the least political power that continue to suffer, and these are the people we want to reach with our project “ access to clean water”.
Many children spend 20 hours per week collecting water, some walk 7 miles a day, often for contaminated water. Too often the walk is not safe for them physically.  It is children and women who suffer the most without water, and who benefit most from access to it.

Water & Children.

Many children spend 20 hours per week collecting water, some walk 7 miles a day, often for contaminated water. Too often the walk is not safe for them physically.  It is children and women who suffer the most without water, and who benefit most from access to it.

Water & Health:

 Water-related diseases cause 2.2 million deaths a year; every day, diarrhea takes the lives of 1.5 million children in Africa—more than any other single cause of death. Safe water, a toilet, and clean hands could prevent 90% of these deaths.

Water & Education:

 Globally, water-related diseases steal 443 million school days a year. Roundworm, whipworm, and hookworm stunt growth, cause debilitating anemia, and follow kids into the classroom, shrinking cognitive potential. Illness causes absenteeism and early drop-out. Simple solutions can keep kids in school.

In 2010, studies began to show that diarrheal diseases had surpassed pneumonia as the top cause of death among children under 5 in Sub-Saharan Africa: Black R et al. (2010) "Global, regional, and national causes of child mortality in 2008: a systematic analysis", Lancet 2010; 375: 1969–87.

Capacity-building is critical to our involvement:

 VAF thinks about the long-term result every step of the way. We want these communities to be independent of ongoing foreign aid for their water and solutions. Just like you and me, we want these communities to have reliable access to water and sanitation for generations!

This means that recipients are given the tools and trained to drill the bore holes and provide clean water themselves to more communities and when something breaks  someone has the capacity to fix it.

This will also create viable businesses and job opportunities in the communities