Catalina Montera Monero is one of the recipients of clean water in Palo Blanco. She, like many of her neighbors, used to fetch water two or three times a day. “Now life is so easy. The water is right here! I am so thankful to FUNDASEP and to the Church. I prayed a lot. I woke up early every day to make my daily prayer to Our Lady.”
The clean water systems use a combination of gravity and either electricity or solar panels to collect water from a spring or well. Pumps, tanks, miles of PVC pipes and filters then distribute the clean water to local homes. Local work brigades provide sweat equity as part of our shovel-ready empowerment strategy.
Frederico Encarnación is another Palo Blanco resident who is grateful for the kindness of Cross Catholic Outreach donors and Bishop Jose Grullón Estrella, who founded FUNDASEP in 1992. When Frederico turned on the water tap for the first time, his family was so overjoyed, they had a big meal to celebrate. Frederico says, “We worked hard to install the water system, and now it has changed our lives a lot. We had trouble when we had no running water. We lost sleep waiting for water. We praise God for it!”
Related: Poverty in the Dominican Republic and How You Can Help