Water System for Peace Demonstration Farm, Uganda

Empts water bottles are fantastic. They can be re-used for liquid drinks, can be filled with sand and converted into bricks, used for drip irrigation and self wattering planters, can be re-formed into bird feeders, made into fruit fly traps, made into DIY rockets, the possibilities are really endless.
However today, we are focusing on the BIG 20 liter (5 gallon) recycled water bottles as a way to both recycle, and help improve village lives.
Water is a commodoty that most of us do not think about. It flows freely from our taps and we act like the world is ending if we don't have running water for 2 days. Where we work, most people do not have running water at all. Thankfully with help from GlobalGiving, we were able to drill a well providing safe and clean water to the nearby communities. But they still need to cary the water home. Chidlren as young as three years old start fetching water with their older siblings in small water bottles to get stronger and stronger so by the time they are 7 years old, they can carry up to 40 liters (20 in each hand) with little difficulty. Women often balance a 20 liter jug on their heads while carying additional 20 litter jerrycans in each hand.
The standard vessel used to fetch water is a jerry can. A 20 liter jug with a handle. Each empty jerrycan costs about $2 to buy new and for families that often live on less than $1 a day, this is a big expence. So we bring them bottles. Some of these bottles are donated by subscribers to our boujtiful basket program, but most of them are contributed by restaurants and vetrinary clinics. We distribute the water bottles freely, and the villagers LOVE them!