Claudia was 10-years-old when her father was killed in the brutal Sandinista uprising in Nicaragua. Without her father’s income, her mother had no choice but to pull her children out of school. Claudia and her four brothers worked with their mother, washing clothes for the wealthy, to pay for food and basic necessities. When business was unsteady, her mother sold the family goats to keep food on the table for her hungry children. Eventually, the goats were gone and the entire family became insatiably hungry. Claudia needed to find other work.

Esperança Nicaragua began a program several years ago to employ women of Jinotega in a water filter project. Claudia heard of the program and was hired. She learned to make clay water filters, fire them in the kiln and assemble the spout. Once she mastered these skills, she helped the team leader find families in her community who were drinking unsafe water. There were more families than she could imagine! Claudia learned about cholera and other waterborne illnesses while creating and selling the filters. Soon enough, her mother and brothers were also drinking clean water. They also had a noticeable difference in energy and happiness; Claudia was using part of her salary to purchase fresh vegetables and fruit at the nearby market. Her family was now eating and sleeping better and drinking clean, fresh water they could trust.