“I play soccer with my friends in the neighbourhood. I love it! It makes me feel good. But this is just sport for me. I don’t want to be a professional player. I want to be a teacher,” she says.
But sometimes Otília is too weak to play soccer…or go to school. This happens when she has diarrhea caused by the water the family drinks from the stream.
“It is common for all of us to have diarrhea caused by the water we drink from the stream,” says Luis. “But we can’t just stop drinking it because there are no other water sources in this community. We need water and this is the water we have.”
Otília misses classes quite often because of diarrhea. She says “many times I don’t go to school. Diarrhea makes me very weak”.
“Last year I had very low marks and failed to pass to grade six,” she confesses. “All we want is safe drinking water.”
The good news for Otilia? World Vision provides water to kids just like her every 30 seconds! Be a part of the change and donate World Vision water today.
By Helenetia, age 13. Translated by António Massipa.