Upstream UV System Donation Will Provide Clean Water To Children In Calcutta

When UV Pure CEO Rick VanSant heard the stories from his neighbour Jackie Lamey, about the Society for Indian Children’s Welfare (SICW India), an orphanage in Calcutta, he knew UV Pure could help. He immediately provided an Upstream water purification system and that set off a series of events culminating in Ms Lamey personally delivering an Upstream water disinfection system (NC 10-50) to the orphanage. UV Pure Today spoke with Ms Lamey upon her return, and she picks up the story from here.

“I've been to India four times and it never gets any easier for me. I see children playing on the side of the road, washing dishes under overpasses and it fills me with the deepest sadness. But, this is their life, and they’re blessed compared to the wee ones who are abandoned by their families. Abandoned because they probably suffer a physical or mental disability or, the family simply cannot afford to feed, clothe or educate another child. Each and every trip I long to help them all. It's hard to know how.

Four years ago, I married into an Indian family and met an Aunt (Shilu Pathak) who works as an Education Coordinator at the orphanage in Calcutta. Entranced by her stories of how the children come to live at the orphanage and at the same time stunned that parents simply walk away from their children, I then knew what I could do to help. Create a direct line to the children with the guarantee that any help would reach those that need it directly, with no, middle man. I knew I had a terrific support system with open hearts here in Toronto. I just had to connect the two. It was an obligation that fueled me. It was been a wonderful success as friends and neighbours, even strangers have been so motivated to support it on an ongoing basis.

I was beyond grateful for UV Pure's contribution of the water filtration system. It was greatly needed as their current system is old, requires a lot of maintenance and most importantly, is not very effective anymore. It was such an added bonus to the money that was raised to be able to offer clean water for the children and staff. It was beyond anything I envisioned possible. We carried it across the ocean with us as oversized baggage and delivered it directly to the orphanage. It doesn't get more direct than that. Precisely, what I was hoping for.”

The UV Pure Upstream will be installed in the next three months as part of the orphanage’s current renovation. It will be used specifically for the orphanage however, they are a fairly charitable group and she suspects that they will also share the wealth. The orphanage receives many infants and children. Most of them arrive with worms because they’ve never had clean drinking water. They undergo medical treatments to get them healthy and then the orphanage works hard to keep them healthy. Having clean water makes that job a lot easier. To find out more about the Society for Indian Children's Welfare [SICW India], visit here.