In 2008, The Golden Phoenix Foundation, in partnership with Dr. Pat Mason, began a research project in La Hicaca, Honduras. In his previous visits to the area, Dr. Mason noted that many preventable illnesses were being caused by a lack of access to clean water. Water born illness was the leading cause of death in children under age 5. Dr. Mason partnered with the ministry of health for the region in establishing a program to train households in the use of water filters. The water filters were made and purchased in Honduras from a local craftsman (pottersforpeace.org). Each filter, will provide clean drinking water for a family for 2 years. The Golden Phoenix Foundation funded the purchase of 25 water filters which were installed in homes in La Hicaca in July of 2008.
Dr. Mason returned to La Hicaca in October 2008 for follow-up visit to assess the efficacy of the filters, and filed the following report:
“We made it up to La Hicaca and found all of the water filters we left. All but 1 is still being used (it fell off the table and broke). All of the filters were located in very central places in the kitchen areas of each house and all were definitely still being used. I retested all of the water and all the water was still clean. In addition, when we asked the families all said that their children had not had ANY diarrhea infections since they started using the filters. These were children that had previously all had some problems with diarrhea. So overall I think this part of our project has been a huge success. I also found that there are about 10 remaining homes in La Hicaca itself that had not received filters so we would like to try to raise more money this year to get more for the rest of the families and to put extra ones in the church, school and clinic. Any others then we can start supplying the surrounding area.”
The Golden Phoenix Foundation plans to provide funds in 2009 for an extension of the water project to all households in La Hicaca. Dr Mason will be returning in June of 2009 to gather data and assess the program.
