Founder of Water Works Program and Australian Matt Henricks has transformed the lives of 42,000 people in Africa, by providing them with the gift of clean water.

Matt organises team building activities all over the world, where everyday people build something literally life-saving for others. In just a couple of hours participants get to build a water filtration system that will protect an entire household of around 10 people from avoidable water-borne diseases that kill people every day around the world. “Our research shows that with the systems that have already been donated we have prevented at least 1500 instances of water-borne diseases to date,” said Matt. “That number will continue to climb the longer each system that’s been donated remains operational. Unfortunately 5,000 children under the age of five die each day and half of hospital beds world-wide are taken up by people suffering from avoidable water-borne diseases. We’re thrilled to be making a small tangible difference in our own way.”

The Water Works Program is a corporate team building activity where employees get to assemble emergency water systems. In groups of three and in just two hours, people get to build a water filtration system that is then given to refugee camps in Uganda. The emergency water systems are very portable and ready for immediate operation once they arrive in Uganda. “Our systems filter 99 per cent of bacteria, cysts and parasites out of the water and also provide a safe and hygienic storage solution for people to keep clean water close-by where they are likely to need it,” Matt said.

Matt founded the Water Works Program in 2015 in Australia but the initiative has since spread to seven other countries across Europe, North America and Asia, truly making it a global project. “We’ve had over 12,000 participants from all over the world get involved so far. So not only have we donated over 4000 life-saving water filtration systems but we’ve spread the word far and wide about this critical problem. We like to think that the ripple effect of this project is even bigger than the direct impact that we have had so far. We can’t wait to see what the future holds for our project.”

Matt will be travelling to Uganda on 31 March 2019 to visit two separate refugee camps that they have helped.

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