YEREVAN—Karotan is sick of drinking dirty water. For nearly 20 years, families in Karotan, a village in the rural Kashatagh region of Nagorno-Karabakh, have been drinking water out of a dirty well. To address this vital need, ONEArmenia is re-launching their campaign to bring clean water to 400 people in Karotan and three surrounding villages.
Access to clean and potable drinking water is not only a challenge but also a huge concern by everyone in Karotan. Men, women and children walk over 3 kilometers several times a day to retrieve water from the only well in the area. In 2010 alone, 34 cases of serious intestinal infection were reported in and around the village.
“The option to turn a tap and receive clean water simply doesn’t exist,” stated Hovhannes Arakelyan, a resident of Karotan.
With the partnership of the Tufenkian Foundation, ONEArmenia will crowd-fund the creation of a drinking and irrigation water supply of a well to provide fresh water to Karotan. By diverting clean water from a nearby spring into a simple concrete basin, the risk of water-borne illness will be significantly reduced – if not completely eliminated. Additionally, the funded project will provide jobs to local residents during its two-month construction period and, as it requires maintenance, year-round.
The project was originally launched in January of this year and was able to raise 65% of its $22,193 funding goal. After receiving a $3,000 donation in the interim, ONEArmenia is ready to round out the remaining $5,532 in the next three weeks.
“How can you help? It’s simple — with every share, like, tweet, and email you can help bring life to Karotan,” says the ONEArmenia team.
Non-profit funding platform ONEArmenia was founded in September 2012 to stand with the change-making individuals and the organizations they represent, using social media and crowd-funding to involve anyone with an Internet connection in boosting projects that are geared toward making tangible changes in Armenia now. The ONEArmenia network makes it possible to not only raise money for a project based in Armenia as a worldwide community, but to also track the progress of said project with complete access to financial information.
