Imagine celebrating 15 minutes spent every morning fetching water for your family. Lina does.

For 18 years, Lina has woken up at 4:30 in the morning to walk an hour to the water source nearest her village and then walk another hour home in time to start her day at 7am. Lina and her husband Jean Pierre have lived in the locality of Lacombe since 2002, and water has always been a kind of luxury for the people there. Lina and the other women of the village called the daily walks with buckets on their head their “daily exercise.”

Lina’s life has changed since World Renew built a water catchment area in Lacombe. “Now I only need 15 minutes,” she says, “to get the water to my house. This is a big change in my life!”

World Renew also facilitated local oversight for the new water supply. The Water Committee of Lacombe manages the water catchment area very well, allowing every family the same access for the same amount. Lina pays 5 gourdes (about 2 cents USD) for two 18-L buckets of water.

Lina considers the water catchment area in her community a great blessing, especially now during the COVID-19 crisis. She and the other women of the community no longer spend hours “chasing water” everyday, but use it to care for their children, manage their livestock, and tend their gardens and crops.