“Better than Nestle’s!” – Clean water brings health to Pakistan community
By Jon Hargreaves
“You have lost me my business,” health clinic owner, Zahid jokingly tells HCR Pakistan director Hazeen Latif. He was speaking at the opening of the new drinking well in his village, provided by HCR, funded by an Australian church. “Since this well opened three weeks ago,” Zahid says, “I am selling less Flagyl because fewer people are having stomach problems.” With a smile on his face he says, “this water is even better than Nestlé’s.” The well project was a result of a consultation facilitated by HCR which identified some of the main needs facing the community.
Schoolboy tries the clean drinking water from the new well in his village, KPK province, Pakistan
HCR has been working in this village in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province since 2013, helping the community understand and tackle their health and social development challenges. “It has been such a privilege to walk alongside this community for the last three years and feel like I’m part of them,” says Hazeen. “During that time we’ve seen some great things happen, like the medical camp that HCR sponsored with a local partner. We also sponsored a community cricket match and have done a micro-enterprise project, “he added,”but perhaps the most difficult time was when a nearby school was attacked by terrorists and I experienced the grief the community was going through.”
HCR has been working in Pakistan in development and disaster response since 2013, with a vision of seeing whole of life transformation in some of the most challenging places in the country.
