Felicitas made her solution a reality
Most mornings, Felicitas travels toward streams of water in Anta where she gathers watercress to sell at her local market. When she returns home with her harvest, she thoroughly washes the leaves and boils potatoes to add to her signature watercress salad. In the afternoon, she packs everything up, gathers her supplies, and heads to the market, hoping to sell out before the day is done.
Felicitas makes a living selling watercress at her local market.
Felicitas and her husband rely on the income she earns from her market business. Without a safe water source at home, preparing watercress each day was harder than it needed to be. She traveled long distances to collect water from community sources. Some days, a nearby neighbor would allow her to fill jugs at their house – and even then, carrying the heavy jugs back home exhausted her.
Felicitas and her husband live in a neighborhood where many houses are already connected to an existing water line.
An even bigger challenge was the absence of a bathroom at home. Whenever they needed to go, they walked a distance from the house to find privacy among the nearby bushes.
Just down the street, other neighbor's homes were connected to an existing water line. Felicita's house was not. She wanted to fix this, but it cost between 8,000 to 15,000 soles to fund the construction. "I don't have the money," Felicitas explained.
"I told her, I don't have the money."
Felicitas greets a loan officer from Water.org's local partner bank, Caja Cusco.
Everything changed when Felicitas decided to take a small loan through Water.org's local bank partner, Caja Cusco. With this loan, Felicitas could affordably finance a piped connection for safe water at home. Now, Felicitas and her husband live more comfortably with running water and a private bathroom within reach, whenever they need it.
"When they installed the little bathroom, we felt at peace."
Less time collecting water means more time to focus on her business. More time to spend with her husband. More time for herself. And more freedom to enjoy the life she's worked so hard to build.
