The problem of providing clean drinking water
Clean drinking water is absolutely essential for life on our planet and for the health of human beings, but water reserves are limited and unevenly distributed. 70 percent of the earth’s surface is covered by water, but around 97 percent of the approximately 1.4 billion cubic meters is salt water. And of the 3 percent or so that is in the form of fresh water, only a very small proportion is available for consumption. Most of it can be found in the polar icecaps, in glaciers, underground and in the atmosphere.
More than a billion people in the world do not have access to clean drinking water, and around 2.6 billion people in developing countries do not have adequate sewage disposal. Contaminated water and poor hygiene are the cause of a large percentage of diseases in developing countries, and are also the main cause for the high infant mortality rates that still prevail in many countries today.
In Africa it is above all countries south of the Sahara that have such an acute shortage of water. Cameroon has adequate water reserves, especially in the south, but the supply has to be made available and kept clean. Of the population of more than 17 million, only around 40 percent have access to clean drinking water.
Otélé
The Catholic Mission in Otélé was founded by Benedictine priests from Engelberg in 1936. It is situated in rainforest approximately 60 kilometers from the capital city, Yaoundé, and currently numbers around 3,000 inhabitants. Although there is no shortage of water here, many bodies of water are polluted and therefore cannot be used for providing drinking water.
The «Water is Life» project
The «Water is Life» project is the result of an initiative on the part of Urs Egli, a Benedictine priest from Engelberg, who as head of the Catholic Mission in Otélé, southern Cameroon, found himself confronted with a high infant mortality rate and a population that was in very poor health. The widespread infectious diseases in the region were attributable to polluted water that people were drawing from open sources. Father Urs Egli’s idea was to build simple but robust wells so that the local inhabitants could obtain clean drinking water from below the ground.
The project originally set out to build 44 wells, but this number soon increased to 400, and in the meantime it has surpassed 1,200. In order to ensure a sustainable supply of drinking water, the St. Martin Foundation attaches a great deal of importance to the maintenance of wells, but it is also constantly pushing ahead with the construction of new ones.
Despite support from the local population, the St. Martin Foundation has to rely on donations for the construction and maintenance of wells. Together with the project management team on location, it asks international organizations, the European Union, the Swiss Confederation, cantons, municipalities and local parishes, service clubs, companies and private individuals to support its activities by making financial donations.